Relative Force
by Sarah Everton
Summary: When tragedy strikes, Maggie Sawyer finds herself back in Blue Springs, Nebraska. But soon, she and Alex figure out that there's more to the town than she could have ever imagined. Now in charge of a murder investigation, they discover that getting in the way of a small town and its secrets can have grave consequences.
1. Chapter 1

Alex Danvers' job entailed many things.

She was the second in command at the DEO, and the leader whenever the DEO deployed on field missions. A bioengineer, a field medic and a firearms expert.

So it only made sense that she had to make time to train new recruits as well.

At least, according to J'onn.

Mostly, Alex just suspected that J'onn wanted her to scare them into becoming disciplined agents, listening to her every command in the field. She was happy to comply.

And at least it felt like blowing off some steam after a long morning of sitting in the lab and watching alien bacteria multiply.

So she took the job with pride, pacing along the wall of the training room and watching the agents spar one-on-one, barking out feedback every now and then as she passed.

"Ericson, he's going to _keep_ blocking you if you _keep_ coming in from the left!"

"Harrison, _footwork_! You look like a little kid that just learned how to walk, _Jesus_."

"Kowalski, if you can't throw a punch I don't expect you to make it to the next week!"

Truth be told, Alex knew that she was being harsh on the agents. Whenever she was out in the field, she made a point of being in charge, but also being kind to her team, whoever they were. She knew all of them by name, and worked on getting to know them well enough to know how they needed to be handled.

She felt like it was her duty.

This, however, was just wasting her time.

She felt her cellphone buzz in her pocket, and walked out of the room after yelling over her shoulder that they needed to keep sparring while she was gone.

As she raised the phone to her ear, her frustrated scowl made way for a content sigh.

"Hey."

" _Hey, babe. Am I interrupting?_ "

The sound of Maggie's voice never failed to make her smile, although it had been months since they married. Though the domesticity of her life seemed to have taken a huge leap forward, she still felt butterflies every time someone mentioned her wife.

"I'm almost done. Are we still meeting up for lunch?"

Maggie chuckled. " _Yeah, I'm just wrapping up here too. I'll come pick you up in fifteen._ "

"Alright. Love you."

" _Love you too._ "

Alex lowered the phone, and had to force herself to pull the smirk off her face as she turned around to head back into the training room.

"If I see _one_ person sitting on the side, that's fifty more push-ups…!"

* * *

As soon as she hung up, she reached for her leather jacket draped around her chair, and pulled it on.

"McConnell, I'm heading out." She announced to the man sitting at the desk across from her.

"I heard." The man replied dryly without looking up from his computer screen. "The missus is waiting."

Maggie raised an amused eyebrow. "And we don't keep a lady waiting, do we, Jack?"

McConnell made a vague noise. "… Give it a few years, you'll see."

She laughed, and patted him on the back as she walked towards the elevator. If she took her car, she'd be at the DEO building in a good ten minutes. She made a reservation for lunch at a small but cozy restaurant not too far, but she only had an hour and a half for lunch, so she needed to get moving as soon as possible.

As she stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor, she smiled at the receptionist.

She didn't expect the woman stopping her. "Detective Sawyer?"

Maggie stopped in her tracks and turned around with a smile. "Hey, Rita. Sorry, I'm in a rush. I'm picking Alex up for lunch."

Rita motioned to the waiting area. "There's a woman here to see you."

She frowned at that. "See _me_?"

Rita shrugged, and Maggie turned around to follow the woman's gaze, to where a long-haired brunette woman was sitting, clutching her purse and looking down at the ground.

Maggie took a step in her direction. "Excuse me? Miss?"

The woman looked up at her. And the second their eyes met, Maggie's eyebrows shot up into her hairline.

"… _Chloe_?!"

The brunette smiled weakly. "Hey, Mags."

Maggie's stomach dropped. _Chloe Watson_ was here. She'd gone to the police academy with her for a while, back in Nebraska, before Maggie had taken off to Gotham. They'd become great friends, sharing their mutual disgust for small towns, and hoping to make a change in both of their own.

It had been six or seven years since she last saw her, saying goodbye to her in their shared dorm, Chloe wishing her good luck on her big city adventure, and promising her to visit once she'd graduated.

Of course, Gotham with all of its… _charm_ had been far more hectic than Maggie had anticipated, and the last thing on her mind was to reconnect. And even when things settled down… Neither of them really took the initiative to get together.

And now, Chloe Watson was here. Clutching her purse and shuffling from one foot to another nervously.

"I- How have you been?" Maggie stammered, at a loss for words. "It's been…"

"-Seven years, yeah." The woman nodded quickly. "I've… I've been good."

The conversation lulled after that, and Maggie didn't want to ask why Chloe was visiting her, but she _was_ late for a lunch reservation. And the last thing she wanted to do was send Chloe off, but…

The woman seemed to sense her discomfort, and broke the silence quickly. "Listen… Mags. I came here for work."

Maggie tilted her head. "You got relocated?"

"No, I'm… Still working Gage County." Chloe chuckled weakly. "Still guarding good ol' Blue Springs."

But the detective saw the conflict in the woman's eyes, and shook her head. "Well then, can we pick this up in an hour? I'm late for a lunch meeting, so…"

"This can't wait. Do you have somewhere we can talk?"

The seriousness in her tone made Maggie realize immediately that there was something more going on. So without another word, she nodded and lead Chloe up to an empty meeting room on the first floor, closing the door behind them.

"I'm a deputy sheriff." Chloe started. "And uh… It's my _job_ … to… inform people of crimes."

Maggie narrowed her eyes. This didn't sound like the Chloe she'd known at all. She looked like she was afraid to say a wrong _syllable_ and get in trouble.

"Chloe, whatever it is… Just…" Maggie swallowed thickly, trailing off. The only reason why someone from Gage County would come visit her to talk was if something had happened back home.

Something bad.

It didn't take the detective she was to figure that out.

"What happened?"

Chloe took a deep breath, finally meeting her eyes. "Mags… Your parents' bodies were both found yesterday, in their home. There were signs of a struggle, but no forced locks. From the looks of things, they'd been there at least three days before the neighbors called us."

As much as she hated to admit it, hearing the words made her sick. Maggie raised a hand to cover her mouth, and took a shaky breath. "Do… uh… Do you have any leads yet?"

Chloe shook her head. "None so far. We're still looking into it. But Mags…" Her gaze softened. "… They didn't have anybody. You're the only family we could find."

 _Jesus_.

Maggie was at a loss. "Give me… Give me a sec, alright?"

"Of course." Chloe watched as Maggie dropped down onto a nearby chair, burying her face in her hands. She moved closer, and put a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"This can't be happening."

Chloe winced sympathetically. "Whatever you need, I'm here, Mags."

Maggie could only stare ahead, still hoping that she'd wake up from the nightmare she apparently found herself in.

* * *

"Hey, Winn!"

The brunette man spun around in his chair at the sound of his name, seeing Alex walking over to him in her civilian clothes.

"Alex… You look… uh…" He didn't know exactly how to put it, but there was something off about the look on her face.

"Have you seen Maggie?"

He shook his head. "Nope, she hasn't passed by here yet. Why?"

"She was supposed to be here five minutes ago." Alex said, nervously glancing down at her watch.

She didn't miss the incredulous look Winn was shooting her, and sighed. "I know how crazy that sounds, alright? But she knows the tight schedule we're on during lunch, _she_ was the one that made the reservation. She's never late."

"Traffic?" Winn tried. "Maybe there was an accident, or she had to be pulled into work, or-…"

Alex interrupted him quickly. "-I'm going to her precinct."

Winn opened his mouth to reply, but the agent was already running off. He sighed. "Good talk…?"

* * *

"I want to see the photos."

Chloe hesitated. "Mags, I know that they did horrible things to you, but I really don't-…"

"Don't what?" Maggie snapped. "Have the right? The jurisdiction? They never officially disowned me, I'm still their daughter, I have a right to be updated on this investigation…"

"I'm not saying you aren't." Chloe defused the situation quickly. "Hell, you probably know the law better than I do. But I didn't come here to discuss the case with you. I came here to tell you that you're the only one left to pick up the pieces back in Nebraska."

"You need me to plan the funerals." Maggie swallowed, before chuckling humorlessly. "Yeah, I get it."

She'd had this conversation plenty of times with torn apart families. Hysterical mothers crying over their dead children, teenagers now completely alone against the world because of their parents arbitrary deaths… The world was a fucked up place, and Maggie Sawyer knew.

But she'd never expected to be on the other side of the couch.

"I'm supposed to take the red eye back to Nebraska tonight." Chloe said. "I'm needed back at the sheriff's department."

"Right." Maggie whispered. "He was the sheriff."

"Yeah." Chloe sighed. "I worked under him for three years."

Maggie glanced up to meet her eyes upon hearing that, but the last thing she wanted was to have that conversation right now. And Chloe seemed to agree, because she folded her arms. "Anyway, I mean, if you want to take some more time to arrange things here, that's fine. But… If I were you, I wouldn't wait too long."

"Thanks."

Chloe fished a business card out of her pocket, and handed it to her. "Like I said, I'm still in town for the rest of the day. If you need me, or anything really, give me a call, alright?"

Maggie nodded, staring down at the card. "Let me walk you out, at least."

Chloe followed her out of the meeting room, and the walk downstairs was silent. When they reached the reception area again, Maggie cleared her throat. "Are you staying somewhere?"

"Yeah. I'm going to go get some sleep. I'll hail a cab."

"I can drive you, if you want. It's the least I can do." Maggie offered. But Chloe smiled weakly. "I appreciate it, but I'm sure you've got things to process. We can talk properly once things have settled down."

 _Once we've figured out whoever killed your parents._

The implication was heavy between the two of them, but both women ignored it. Chloe reached forward and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into her body. Maggie closed her eyes and sighed, as she felt Chloe rub her back softly.

When they pulled back, the brunette nodded. "Let me know what you decide."

After that, she walked out of the precinct, leaving Maggie to watch her go.

Alone with her thoughts for the first time ever since she was told the news, Maggie felt eerily calm. Almost like she'd forced herself not to react.

These two people had ruined her life. She had no love for them, except for the fact that they had left her alone all this time. They had made a mistake, and they had owned it.

The least she could do was respect that.

But she didn't feel like she had a mother or a father to think about. To make proud. All she had was herself to make proud. And Alex too.

Alex…

… Who was probably worried out of her mind that she hadn't been there to pick her up, and hadn't answered her phone in the past fifteen minutes. _Shit_.

As she walked out of the precinct, hoping to make up some time and still make the reservation by running to her car, she practically bumped into her as soon as she was out the door.

" _Mags_!" Alex yelled, the relief visible on her face. "God, if you were working late you could have just said so, we could have rescheduled!"

"I'm… Sorry. Uh, something came up." Maggie said, evading the topic. "I got caught up in it, I couldn't answer my phone."

"No, it's fine, don't apologize." Alex shook her head. "I'm just glad you're okay. We're probably not going to make the reservation, though."

"Actually, I took the rest of the day off." She lied quickly. "I haven't been feeling well, I think I'm just going to head home and rest."

"Oh…" Alex's face broke into a concerned frown. "Do you want me to come with you? I could take some time off to take care of you."

"No, it's fine, don't worry. I'm just going to go to bed." Maggie smiled quickly. But she knew that Alex wasn't completely buying it. Her eyes seemed to scream to let it go, though, when the agent nodded slowly.

"Alright. So, want me to go grab a sandwich for you? You need to eat _something_."

"Yeah, sure. That sounds great." Maggie tried her best to make this smile more genuine, and it seemed to work, as Alex smiled and leaned forward, kissing her gently.

"Avocado, cucumber and egg sandwich, coming up."

"I love you."

Alex laughed at that. "You love me getting you food. That's why Kara loves me too, I'm onto you guys."

Maggie smiled too, but it didn't reach her eyes.

Alex's expression changed into one of concern again. "Hey… is something wrong?"

Maggie glanced down. "I'll… see you at home."

The agent frowned at the answer, but before she could say anything else, her wife turned around, heading to her car.

As soon as her back was turned to her, Maggie felt tears sting in her eyes. She ignored Alex calling out her name behind her in confusion, and unlocked her car instead.

And as she got behind the wheel, she reached for the business card in her pocket, and fished out her phone first.

"… _Chloe Watson, Gage County Deputy._ "

She wiped at her eyes quickly, trying to make her voice sound normal. "Hey, Chloe… It's uh… It's Maggie."

God, she really should have thought this through.

" _Hey Mags... You okay? Do you need something?_ "

"Yeah… Actually, I do." She took a deep breath, glancing at Alex's form in her rear view mirror and watching as her wife walked towards her motorcycle, before closing her eyes. "I want the case."

" _Okay, well, I can print you some copies of the reports…_ "

"No." Maggie shook her head slowly. "No copies. No reports. I want the _case_."

" _The… the case?_ "

The detective glanced at her own face in the mirror once more, before her gaze was locked straight ahead.

"I want to be in charge of the investigation. I want to find out who murdered my parents."


	2. Chapter 2

She hated lying to Alex.

She promised her on their wedding day that there would be no secrets between the two of them, and Maggie never intended to break that promise.

But she knew that Alex was going to forgive her for lying by omission on the steps of the police precinct, though. She needed time to sort out her own feelings first, before she was ready to have Alex join in her uncertainty.

She hadn't regretted the phone call to Chloe in the slightest. If anything, sitting on her couch and thinking about the memories of Blue Springs made her all the more certain that she needed to fix this.

It wasn't so much emotional closure she needed, but she did feel like it was the right thing to do. Like everything in her life had lead up to this point. Getting estranged from her parents, ending up in law enforcement like her father, and now returning to complete the circle.

On second thought, she supposed that she _did_ need the closure, to finally leave Blue Springs behind.

So now, she found herself sitting at the kitchen island facing Chloe, who hadn't hesitated in acting upon Maggie's invitation to her apartment.

Though the conversation was far from pleasant. Chloe seemed to be trying to work with her, but she was playing devil's advocate. A lot.

"Mags, I know that you feel like you need to do this, but jurisdiction-wise… I'm not sure I'll be able to sell it when I get back. I mean, I don't even know who the new sheriff is supposed to be, we were going to figure that out tomorrow. Let alone who's having the investigation."

"I've worked plenty of homicide cases. At least use me as an advisor." Maggie countered.

Chloe sighed, and rubbed her eyes. "Okay. Yeah, we can try that. As long as the new sheriff greenlights you; you _are_ personally connected to the case."

As Maggie opened her mouth to reply, Chloe chuckled weakly. "I know, I know. _Not really_."

The unmistakable sound of a key unlocking the door to their apartment made both women look up. And for the past minutes, Maggie had forgotten completely that Alex was coming back with food.

Chloe frowned, glancing back at the door and reached for the gun on her hip instinctively. Maggie was just about to tell her to take it easy, before the door swung open and Alex walked in, stopping in her tracks when she saw the scene in front of her. " _Oh_ …"

Maggie smiled weakly, and got up from the barstool. "Alex… This is Chloe Watson, a friend of mine from the academy. Chloe… Alex Danvers, my wife."

Maggie didn't really know how Chloe would respond to hearing _that_ news for the first time, but she let go of her holster and reached forward over the island to shake Alex's hand. The agent reciprocated slowly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alex. It's been a while since Maggie and I talked, but it looks like she's in good hands."

Alex smiled politely, but Maggie could tell instantly that it was more forced than usual. Instead, she glanced up at her wife. "Are you feeling better?"

Maggie nodded quickly. "A bit."

Chloe's seemed to sense the tension between the two women, and cleared her throat quickly. As she got up, Alex laid eyes on the holster on her hip. "Are you on duty?"

"Yeah. Sort of. I'm not in my jurisdictive area, though. I work back in Nebraska."

Alex's eyes flitted from the woman back to Maggie, and something in her gaze softened. "So, I take it you're not here to reconnect?"

"You know what, I'll give the two of you some time." Chloe said, grabbing her jacket. She turned around to glance back at Maggie. "Let me know, about tonight."

"Yeah. See you."

As Chloe disappeared out the door, Alex turned around, lowering the sandwich that was still clasped in her hand. "Maggie, what the hell is going on? I've never seen that woman before. You've never _mentioned_ her."

"I know." Maggie glanced down. "She came to tell me that I'm needed back in Blue Springs."

Alex closed her mouth immediately, the next accusation falling back into her throat as she swallowed the words. "Your parents?"

Maggie nodded slowly, not meeting Alex's eyes. But then the agent scoffed. "Well, you're not going, are you? Mags, those people _hurt_ you. They _traumatized_ you, they don't deserve your time or your…"

"They're _dead_ , Alex."

Alex froze, her stomach dropping. She had to have misheard her…

But Maggie took a shaky breath, and finally met her eyes again. "Chloe came to tell me that they found their bodies. It looks like a double murder, and they're starting an investigation."

"Oh… _god_ , Maggie I'm… I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." The detective clenched her jaw. "I'm not. I… _think_. I don't know. They need me to fly back to Nebraska to arrange the funerals."

Alex nodded, reaching for her phone.

"What are you doing?"

The agent raised the phone to her ear and scoffed incredulously. "I'm calling J'onn to take a week off."

"No, Alex, you really don't need to." Maggie shook her head slowly. "I can handle this."

"I'm not saying you can't. But I want to be there for you."

Maggie had about three protests ready, but found herself unable to voice any of them. Instead she watched as Alex spoke over the phone, and announced that her second-in-command would take over her duties for the time being. As she disconnected the call, she walked forward and wrapped her arms around Maggie, holding her close.

"We're going to get through this." She whispered in her wife's ear. But Maggie honestly didn't want to hear it.

She just wanted to catch the bastards that did it.

* * *

Her watch told her it was nearing 5 AM when Chloe pulled up in a parking spot at the Gage County Sheriff's office.

And as much as Maggie had wanted to be alone in her unorthodox grieving process, she was happy that Alex was there. The agent gave her space, but had been there for her all these hours, keeping an arm wrapped around Maggie on the plane and rubbing her back softly until she thought that Maggie had fallen asleep.

Of course, Maggie hadn't slept a minute, mulling things over. All of the things she could remember about Blue Springs. People, buildings, secrets…

As soon as they got in the car, she'd asked Chloe to borrow a notepad, and started writing down everything she could remember. Of course her memories were at least fifteen years old, but at least she felt like she was doing _something_ until she got the full briefing.

She intended to keep Alex out of the investigation, though.

Not because Alex wasn't capable, or trustworthy as a partner in the field. On the contrary.

But Maggie felt like she needed to be alone to work it through. She was used to working and patrolling alone in National City – and this was far more personal.

And the thought of Alex being in Blue Springs… She didn't want to think about it.

"Here we are." The sound snapped her out of her thoughts, as she finished the last scribbled down note in the pad, and closed it, tucking it in the back pocket of her pants. Alex put a hand on her thigh, before they stepped out of the car.

Maggie vaguely remembered the Sheriff's office from spending time there when she and Eliza got busted for trespassing in an abandoned mill once. At the time, she'd felt careless. Like the two of them could take on the world together.

The worst they could do was call her parents, and they wouldn't care in the slightest.

But now, it just felt bitter. Just like the rest of the memories that surrounded the town.

"The Rodas house is still an active crime scene, but I booked the two of you a hotel room in Wymore for the week."

They entered the reception area, and Chloe turned around to face them. "Wait here, I'll go arrange some things."

As she walked off, Alex turned to her wife. "The Rodas house?"

"My dad." Maggie replied in a hoarse whisper. "He didn't want me to sound foreign, so they gave me my mother's name. Maggie Sawyer, instead of Margarita Rodas."

Alex swallowed thickly upon hearing it. Maggie had barely told her anything about her life in Blue Springs. And she didn't blame her – it was a chapter of her wife's life that was better left alone.

She didn't want to force Maggie to say anything she didn't want to, so she tried to remind herself not to ask too many questions.

Instead she watched as Maggie walked up to Chloe, who was leaned over the receptionist's desk, and whispered something in her ear.

Although she believed Maggie when she'd told her that she hadn't seen Chloe in years, there was something about the way the two looked at each other that rubbed her the wrong way. It wasn't that she was jealous, honestly, acting paranoid around Maggie now was absolutely horrible, but there was a tension between the two women that somehow made Alex feel like she was a third wheel.

That Maggie could have done fine without her there.

She settled on looking anywhere but the reception desk, instead looking around the small room. A few chairs, arrows that pointed to various locations, and posters that had various straight-laced messages.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she watched a door open, and a uniform-clad officer step out. When he glanced around the room, his eyes fell on Maggie's form, and he actually stopped.

Alex didn't like it one bit.

The way the man's eyes narrowed as soon as he saw her, made red flags go up in the back of her head. But instead of acting upon it, he turned around and walked back into the room he just came from.

Alex took a deep breath, trying to remind herself that she wasn't there to act paranoid around the local law enforcement. She was there to support Maggie, who had just heard that her parents were brutally murdered.

Emotional support. Not agent-mode.

She dropped down onto a chair, waiting patiently for Maggie to finish.

Said detective was leaned forward, whispering to Chloe so that the receptionist wouldn't hear.

"I _have_ to do this, but I want her out of it."

"Mags, she's an FBI agent. The second she knows there's an investigation she'll want to help."

"Well, I don't want her to. When you know something, you talk to me. I don't even want her to know that I'm helping you. As far as Alex is concerned, I'm just here for the funerals."

Chloe shook her head slowly. "I'm… I don't know, Mags. Why won't you just tell her?"

" _Because_ _I said so_." Maggie hissed through her teeth. "I'll explain everything to her once I know more, but I don't want to draw attention to-…"

Chloe's breath caught in her throat as she finally realized what Maggie was implying. "Mags, it's _okay_ now. I'm not saying that they're throwing Pride Parades every other month, but… most of them are okay with it now."

Maggie chuckled humorlessly. "It sounds like you really want to believe it too."

Chloe sighed, admitting defeat by doing so. "Okay, I promise I'll keep her out of the loop. But you _have_ to talk to her, Mags, she's your _wife_."

Maggie glanced back to where Alex was leaning against the wall next to the door, and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know. I'll do it when we're settled in the hotel room."

Chloe nodded. "I can't give you a squad car, but Oscar's car was released to us for evidence. It has been cleared, so if it's okay with you, you can drive it around."

"Yeah, that would be great."

 _At least the car hadn't let her down._

"Alex, babe?" Maggie said, glancing past Chloe to lock eyes with her wife with a weak smile. "You ready?"

Alex nodded, and wrapped an arm around her waist protectively, as Chloe lead them back to the parking lot, now holding a manila folder in her hands. She opened it and pulled out a set of keys, handing them over.

Maggie's breath caught in her throat when she saw the dark blue pick-up truck in the back of the lot. She remembered the truck vividly.

It was the truck he'd bought when she was thirteen. He'd even allowed her to drive around in it, up and down their street. He'd laughed when she'd accidentally bumped into their trash can, scaring a neighborhood cat into running off into the bushes. He'd ruffled through her hair and promised her that he'd teach her how to drive.

He'd promised her that he'd give it to her once she'd gotten her driver's license.

The memory hit her all at once, and she felt her heart pound in her chest. Her throat closed up, and before she realized it, the air in her lungs was gone.

"Mags…?" She heard Alex's voice behind her, until the worried face of her wife came into view. "Mags, are you okay?"

Maggie pulled away from her supporting hands quickly, dropping to her knees and now full-on hyperventilating.

" _Maggie_." Another voice. Belonging to Chloe, she realized, as the woman crouched down in front of her. "Breathe… It's okay… You're okay, you're going to be fine. Just breathe."

She felt Alex run a hand across her back, and the other hand taking hers and pulling it up to her wife's chest. "Do you feel my heartbeat? Breathe with me, babe. It's okay…"

Alex's heartbeat always calmed Maggie down, and the agent hoped that this time wouldn't be any different. And sure enough, after a few more pants, she finally felt Maggie's posture relax slightly, as she got back in control of her breathing. "That's it, babe… You're okay…"

After that, Maggie vaguely heard Alex say something to Chloe, before the woman handed her the keys, and Alex leaned back down into Maggie's field of view. "I'll drive us to the hotel, okay? Can you get up for me? You can sit down in the car."

Alex carefully guided Maggie's shaking form, and settled her into the front seat, throwing another apologetic look backwards to where Chloe was still standing.

"I'll stop by later." Chloe promised, before she said goodbye and headed back into the building.

As Alex finally dropped into the driver's seat and started the car, she turned her head to look at her wife's still trembling form. "Mags…?"

Maggie could only stare at the familiar dashboard, and felt a tear slip down her cheek as she remembered her father's face, smiling proudly at her from the passenger seat.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey… Are you feeling any better?"

Maggie looked up to where Alex was now standing in the doorway of their hotel room, a concerned look on her face as she carried the last of their luggage inside.

The detective cleared her throat weakly. "Yeah, sorry. It was just… Memories."

"Don't apologize." Alex shook her head. "It's okay. You know that."

Maggie glanced down at her own feet, as Alex closed the door and walked into the room, stopping in front of the bed her wife was currently sitting on. "Listen, babe, you know you don't have to-…"

Maggie interrupted her quickly. "… Alex, we need to talk."

The agent raised an eyebrow, and nodded slowly as she took a seat next to her.

"I… Alex, I didn't want you to come with me."

Judging by her wife's face, it was obvious that she hadn't seen that coming. So Maggie sighed, and continued. "I don't want to be with you in Blue Springs. And it's not… It's not _you_. I promise, Alex. It's…"

Alex felt her heart beat painfully in her throat, as she realized what Maggie was implying. "Mags, you… You should have _said_ something. I wouldn't have come along if that's not what you needed."

"You would have come whether I wanted you to or not."

Alex opened and closed her mouth a few times. "Then… Then why did you wait so long? Why didn't you say something sooner? What can I do about it?! Tell me how I can _help_ you."

"You _can't_." Maggie snapped, before she realized that she'd gone too far. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and sighed. "I'm sorry, Alex..."

"There's something you're not telling me." Alex said. "I can see it. Just be _honest_ with me. Is it Chloe? Is there history between the two of you? Something I don't know?"

Maggie looked up. "She was my best friend, when I had nobody, Alex. There's nothing going on."

"Well, then, _enlighten me_!" Alex shot back. "If you don't want me here, that's _fine_ , but at least tell me why!"

"Alex, I'm _scared_ , _okay_?!" Maggie now finally raised her voice, jumping up from the bed. "The last time I was here, they kicked me out for _looking_ at a girl the wrong way! If I go there with _you_ , you'll… they'll…" Maggie trailed off, her breath catching in her throat, as tears pricked in her eyes. "I can't go through that again."

Alex's eyes softened, as she watched her wife flop down onto the bed again, now sobbing. She leaned forward, until her knees hit the ground as she knelt down in front of her, taking her hands in her own. "Babe… You could have _told_ me."

When her statement was only met with sobbing, Alex nodded slowly, and reached for her finger. Maggie watched through her tears as Alex took off the ring on her finger, and put it on the nightstand next to the bed before looking her wife in the eyes. "As long as we're here, I'll back off. We'll figure something out. But if this is what I can do to help you, I'm doing it."

Alex _never_ took off the ring, not even in the field. Even when she went undercover that one time a few months ago when they had just married, they made up a story so that she wouldn't have to remove it.

Taking it off just to ease Maggie's mind was a _big deal_ , and Maggie could only sob harder at that thought.

"Can I touch you?" Alex said, raising a hand but not quite moving in Maggie's direction yet. Upon the small nod her wife gave her, she moved in and enveloped her in a hug, resting her head on Maggie's shoulder while shushing her gently. "It's okay… it's okay…"

"This was a mistake." Maggie sniffed. "I should have _never_ come back here."

"Hey… You're just here to prepare the funerals." Alex reminded her. "A week, tops. And then we go back to National City and we can pretend none of it happened."

Maggie stayed silent, but appreciated the sentiment behind Alex's words. She knew that her wife was only trying to help her. Alex could never know about the thoughts in her head, the way she was terrified of ever going back to that house in Blue Springs, afraid of all the memories that were going to _break_ her.

She'd tried so hard to keep that part of her life locked down, and now the only way to face it was head-on, and try not to think about it too much. That case helped with keeping her mind off it.

Alex was still looking at her with an uncertain frown, like she was ready to ask if she was okay once more but was holding herself back.

"I need to go back to the police station." Maggie said. "I promised Chloe I'd meet up with her as soon as we got settled."

Alex nodded slowly. "Okay, yeah. Go ahead. I'll stay here and get some DEO work done."

Maggie took the car keys from Alex's outstretched hand, and hesitated.

As much as she was certain that this trip was going to break her, keeping Alex out of the loop would only come back to haunt her. It wouldn't make sense for her to take a random FBI agent back to Blue Springs without an explanation, and it would certainly raise more questions than she wanted.

If she could keep the locals at bay by partnering up with Alex and pretending they were just there for the investigation… that would at least seem more acceptable.

Alex was watching her still, waiting patiently for Maggie to say something.

Finally, the detective broke the silence. "Actually, I… I could use a favor."

"Anything, Mags."

Maggie bit her lip in thought, and took a deep breath. "I need you to pull some strings and get us jurisdiction."

" _Jurisdiction_ …?" Alex repeated slowly. "What are you talking about?"

"The case, Alex. I need the murder case. I need to figure out what happened to my parents."

Alex was rendered speechless for a few seconds, before she laughed nervously. "I get that you want justice, but… How do you plan on getting the lead on a murder case over a thousand miles away from National City?"

Maggie closed her eyes, shaking her head ever so slightly. "I'm not sure I'll be able to. But _you_ …"

Alex rubbed her neck tiredly, but nodded. "I'll make some calls to D.C. You go meet up with Chloe."

The detective nodded gratefully, and headed for the door. But before she could reach for the knob, Alex's voice behind her stopped her in her tracks.

"Just promise me one thing."

Maggie turned around slowly to face her.

"We're in this together, okay? I may not be a detective like you, but we're _partners_. So… talk. Just _talk_. Can you do that?"

Maggie smiled weakly. "I promise, Alex."

After waiting for her wife's nod of approval, she headed out the door.

* * *

The drive back to the police station was a 20-minute drive through the cornfields of Nebraska. It was still dark outside, but Maggie was rather grateful for the fact – it made it harder to see around her.

As a kid, she'd rarely ventured out of Blue Springs or the nearby Wymore. The small city of Beatrice, where the sheriff's office was located, was the furthest she'd ever gone away from home. Neither of her parents were outdoorsy types – though her father _did_ teach her how to shoot in their back yard, and out in the fields when she was young.

But she remembered most of the roads she was driving on, and tried not to think too much about it.

About ten minutes into the drive, not having seen a single car driving this early in the morning, she frowned at the sight of a patrol car appearing in her rear-view mirror, and flashing his lights.

" _The hell_ …" she whispered to herself, as she pulled over into the shoulder quickly, already reaching for her badge. She was certain she wasn't driving over the speed limit. She didn't feel like she'd been breaking any laws whatsoever.

She saw the car pull over behind her, blue and red lights still flashing as a man got out of the driver's seat, and cursed silently to herself, already raising her arms to pull back from the steering wheel.

As she leaned back, she saw in the rear-view mirror that the man actually had his gun drawn. The fact set up alarms in her head, as she instinctively reached for her own gun holster, before scolding herself. The absolute worst thing to do was to pull a gun herself. She had to handle this like a cop, not like a criminal.

Especially when she was certain she hadn't actually done anything wrong.

The man closed in on her window, and pointed the weapon, which she now saw was actually a stun gun, at her face. "Ma'am, get out of the car with your hands above your head where I can see them!"

"Officer." Maggie replied calmly. "I'm going to reach for my badge, _very slowly_."

The man ignored her, and repeated his previous command. Maggie sighed, and raised her hands as she opened the door.

The man practically yanked her out of the truck and threw her against the side roughly as he searched her. He immediately noticed the gun, and pulled it out of her holster. Maggie winced at the brute force applied on her. "Hey, _easy_! Can you at least tell me what the hell you're stopping me for?!"

When the man didn't reply, Maggie rolled her eyes. Her mood was already bad enough without some idiot cop pulling her over for no reason. "I'm going to reach for my badge inside my back pocket, okay? I'm a police detective, and I want to show you my credentials. You already threw out my gun, I'm unarmed, and I don't want any trouble."

The man seemed to humor her at least, as he stepped back and watched her reach for her badge holder, opening it and raising it up to him. "Maggie Sawyer, National City Police Detective, science division."

The officer took the badge from her hands and studied it. " _Sawyer_?"

"I was born here." Maggie said, her arms still raised above her head. "I'm here for my parents' funeral."

The man seemed to stop at those words. "You're Oscar's kid?!"

She scoffed. "Technically, yes."

The man handed her the badge back immediately, and cleared his throat. "I've known Oscar for years. Used to drink beers from the back of this thing." He patted the truck lovingly, and Maggie watched his entire demeanor change. "I'm sorry, Detective. When I saw you drive by, I figured you'd stolen it."

Maggie breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that she wasn't actually going to get shot this morning.

"Hey, sorry I went in there so hard, miss." He smiled apologetically. "I was angry, I figured you were one of them vultures ready to prey on the man the second he's found dead."

Maggie unconsciously nursed a sore spot on her shoulder from being rammed into the truck, as she eyed him cautiously. "He sounds like he was a great man."

The officer sighed solemnly, and nodded. "Oscar was the best sheriff anyone could ever ask for. He cared about his community, and he made sure that everything he did was for his people. The county's going to miss him. And we want to see the bastards that did it hang, too."

She cleared her throat awkwardly, trying not to think about his words too much. "Well, I uh… Guess everything's alright with the truck then? Deputy Watson gave it to me to drive around for the time being."

"Yeah, sure." The man said. "Should just let me check your license and registration documents. And once again – I apologize, ma'am."

Maggie got back into the driver's seat and reached for the glove compartment, finding the documents of the car. As she pulled them out, something fell onto the floor of the passenger seat. She handed the man the papers quickly, and picked up the object.

She didn't hear the officer's replies behind her, as she froze at the sight of the small, wooden carved dog. One of her favorite toys to play with as a child.

Her father had her favorite childhood toy in his glove compartment.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey… You look like you could use a drink." Chloe greeted her at the reception with a sympathetic smile. "I've got some booze in my desk drawer, if you're interested."

"Yeah, might take you up on that." Maggie frowned, absent-mindedly still nursing the spot on her shoulder from where the officer had basically body-slammed her into the truck. After another sheepish smile, he'd offered her an escort to the sheriff's office to make up for it. She'd taken him up on the offer, mainly because she was convinced that there would be a big chance that she'd actually end up driving off the road with how much seeing the wooden toy had shaken her.

Chloe motioned into the hallway, and lead the detective through the corridor, until they finally arrived at a small deserted bullpen. "There's only twelve of us out there for the entire county… Bet that's a big difference from Gotham or National City."

Maggie tilted her head. "Well, yeah. Lots of uniforms there. But lots more crimes too, I bet."

"You're science division, right?" Chloe raised an eyebrow as she pulled her desk drawer open and fished out a bottle of liquor, putting it down on her desk. "What does that entail? We have a science unit in Lincoln, but that's all forensic analysts… I pegged you more as the type to get her hands dirty."

Maggie chuckled weakly. "Yeah, no forensics. Science division works metahuman and alien-related crimes."

" _No way_ …" The officer whispered, her eyes widening. "You hunt _aliens_?!"

"I'm involved with all crimes that have other species involved, yeah. Not all of them are criminals, though. Most just want a safe place to live, they're refugees."

She watched as Chloe laughed while pouring liquor into a glass, shaking her head. "Holy shit… Maggie Sawyer, the woman who beat up her own physical training instructor on her first day, now beating the shit out of aliens. I'll drink to that."

She handed Maggie the glass. The detective accepted with a lopsided smile. "And for the record, the guy was asking for it. He thought I couldn't take him."

"You broke his _nose_."

"Don't remind me." Maggie grunted, downing a large gulp with a slight wince. "They almost kicked me out. Said it was an academy record too… Always been an overachiever."

Chloe laughed, leaning back on her desk. "Those were the days, Sawyer. Drinking smuggled beer on the dorm roof, almost getting caught… I miss those times."

"Yeah. Me too." Maggie whispered, before taking another sip. "You know, the truck… You said you cleared it."

"Yeah. Something wrong with it?"

"Nah." Maggie shook her head. "There was a little wooden dog in the glove compartment. Did you see it?"

"Oh, yeah. He used to have that with him all the time, the old thing. Said it was kind of like a good luck charm for him." Chloe nodded. "I figured he'd left it in the truck the night he…"

She trailed off, but didn't need to finish the sentence. Maggie licked her lips nervously, her hand tracing the rim of the glass. "… That was a toy he gave me. I grew up with it, I was _obsessed_ with it. He said its name was Lucky, because he'd found it somewhere and it reminded me of how _lucky_ he was to have me." Her voice broke on the last sentence, but she didn't want to cry. Not in front of Chloe, not right in the middle of a police station.

There was time for crying later, not now. _God_ , why did she even bring it up. She cleared her throat quickly. "Anyway, uh… I was just surprised that he held on to it. That's all."

"Yeah…" Chloe said, apparently unsure how to respond to Maggie's explanation. The tension was broken when Maggie's phone rang. She pulled it out, and brought it to her ear. "Hey, Alex."

" _Hey. I called J'onn, and got in touch with the DEO headquarters in D.C. I can't do anything that's related to the DEO because there's no alien activity involved, but there might be some leeway in terms of FBI. I'll try and pull some strings._ "

"Okay. Thanks, Alex." Maggie said sincerely. If Alex really was cashing in a favor with her FBI friends, that meant a big deal. It also meant that Alex wasn't lying; she was willing to do whatever it took to help Maggie out on this.

" _I'm going to finish up work here and then go for a walk, try and see if there are any breakfast spots. Text me when you get back so we can grab some food, alright?_ "

"Deal. I love you."

" _Love you too, babe._ "

Maggie hung up the phone, and saw an amused expression on Chloe's face.

"What?"

"Just…" Chloe laughed. "I remember you saying you never wanted to marry someone, or have kids. Guess times have changed then."

"I never wanted to be happy until I met Alex." Maggie admitted. "She makes me feel like I can do anything. I'm so lucky to have her, Chloe, you have no idea."

"I bet." The woman smiled. "I'm glad to see you so happy."

"Well, what about you? You had all the boys falling for you at the academy, what did _you_ ever end up with?" Maggie raised an amused eyebrow, until she saw Chloe's whole demeanor change.

"Uh… Well, I ended up marrying Jeremy Lockman."

Maggie's eyes widened. "Shut _up_. Lockman?! That scrawny guy with the blonde streak in his hair?! The one that would always look at you during firearms training?!"

Chloe laughed weakly. "Yeah. I mean – I didn't _settle_. He actually got a lot of muscles… And that blonde streak was just a dare. When you left we started hanging out more, and we dated. And then he asked me to marry him."

" _Chlo_ , I'm so happy for you! The four of us should go out for dinner tonight, or something? Reconnect!" Maggie smiled. But then Chloe's face fell.

"He… _passed away_ , actually. Last summer."

Maggie's eyes widened. "Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry, I…"

"Don't apologize." The woman shook her head. "You couldn't have known. He was uh… shot in the line of duty. He was responding to a call, a domestic dispute. The wife had called the cops on her husband. When he arrived… The man pulled out a shotgun and shot his wife. Jeremy… He tried to save her, tried CPR. He was down on his knees when the guy turned the gun on him and shot him too."

Maggie's stomach somersaulted. Chloe seemed emotional, but not quite on the verge of tears. It looked like she'd compartmentalized, the same way Maggie dealt with her problems.

"Anyway, the guy's in jail now, life sentence… I tried to make some points with Oscar about having partners on patrol, but we just don't have the manpower for it."

"Well, I guess the two of us should go patrolling together sometime, then."

Chloe chuckled weakly. "Is that a pick-up line, Detective Sawyer?"

"It's whatever you want it to be, baby." Maggie winked. The two fell into laughter, that settled as Maggie downed the remainder of her glass. "Thanks for this, by the way. Nothing like a glass of liquor to start the day."

"I concur." Chloe put the bottle back in her drawer and sighed. "So… What's the next step?"

"Until I can get confirmation that we can take over the case-…" Maggie started, but Chloe interrupted her quickly.

" _We_? As in, you told her?"

Maggie sighed. "I had to. You were right, she's my wife. It wouldn't be fair to lie to her when she came all this way. And… We agreed that we would keep things strictly professional around here."

Chloe nodded slowly. "I mean, I understand. But, word of advice, if you really love her – and I can tell you do, Mags – then don't waste it. Don't throw it all away just because you're scared of what people think. They don't care about your happiness, that's their problem. But don't let them take that away from you."

"I can't just walk around Blue Springs holding her hand and flashing our rings, Chloe." Maggie shook her head. "I _can't_. I know they can't do shit – we both have guns and she'd have them down on the ground before I could even do anything about it – but…" She sighed. "Dad hurt me. He put his hands on me for being gay. He was my _father_. If we walk around and one of them pulls a gun before I see it coming, and they _shoot_ her… I…"

"Hey, hey, listen. I know, okay? Believe me, I know. And that fear won't go away. But those people? Those bigoted assholes that only care about themselves? They're scared of you more than you are of them. I heard them talking in the bullpen after you went away. In here, you're Oscar's kid. You're a big-ass detective in National City, you solve big murder cases. Oscar knows – he kept on gushing all about you every time you made the news…"

"Stop, Chloe. I don't want to hear this." Maggie cut her off with a shake of her head.

The brunette sighed. "What I'm trying to say is – you are your own person now. And nothing is going to stand in the way of you and getting justice. If any of those people try, you'll go _through_ them. And I'll try to turn a blind eye, but I can't promise anything."

Maggie laughed.

"I'm not telling you what to do. But take it from someone in your shoes, you'll miss her when she's gone. Why not take every chance you get to show her that she means the world to you?"

Maggie nodded slowly. "Yeah. You're right. Thanks, Chloe."

"No problem. And seeing as you're the new temporary external homicide advisor to the sheriff's department of Gage County, I'm assuming you'll want to check out the crime scene."

Maggie stiffened only slightly at hearing the words, but Chloe seemed to notice. "The bodies have already been transported across the street, for autopsies."

"The crime scene assessment was inconclusive?" Maggie frowned.

"Well, the coroner confirmed that it was blunt head trauma, but he was unsure about the weapon. The county attorney ordered a full autopsy, just to be sure. It's a pretty high profile case, he wanted all the info he could get. But the crime scene is still pretty much intact. I pushed my weight around to get them to freeze the crime scene for you to get a look."

"That's… _thank you_." Maggie said, nodding sincerely.

Chloe shrugged. "I doubt you'll find anything we haven't, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. I'll drive."

Maggie followed her out the door, taking a deep breath as she realized that there was no turning back now. In just a few minutes, she'd be back inside the house where everything in her life went wrong, all those years ago.


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as the roads felt all too familiar, and Chloe turned the corner to finally reach Jones Street, Maggie felt herself clench the seat underneath her until her knuckles turned white.

Chloe seemed to notice her discomfort, because the woman was trying to distract Maggie any way possible, by telling anecdotes about her own patrolling days. Maggie acknowledged what she was doing and replied to her questions, but her mind was occupied by the views out her window.

"We're here."

Maggie turned her head, trying to delay the moment of confrontation, until she finally couldn't wait any longer.

The house in front of her was still exactly how she remembered it from the last time she'd seen it. A small, white, two-floor house, an American flag planted right outside the door. A driveway, that Maggie remembered playing on with neighborhood kids.

The only thing different was the police tape barricading the front door.

"You know, you can still change your mind." Chloe said, glancing up at her friend. "You don't _have_ to do this, if you're not ready."

Maggie clenched her jaw. "I'm ready."

After that, she got out of the car, and shut her door, walking over to the front porch. The closer she got, the more she willed herself to get in detective-mode. This was just like any other crime scene she'd been on. It didn't matter who they were, or where she was.

This was work.

Chloe ripped the police tape off the door, and the two of them stepped inside.

"Have you ever been here?" Maggie asked her, to break the silence that was threatening to swallow her.

Chloe nodded. "A few times. Oscar invited me and Jeremy over for dinner once, and then a few more short visits after that, just to keep in touch. Alright…"

Maggie witnessed Chloe get into professional mode too, and was grateful for the fact.

"The bodies were found separately. Oscar was downstairs in the living room, Katherine was upstairs."

Maggie's eyes wandered to the staircase in front of them. "In the bedroom?"

Chloe nodded. "Based on that, it looks like the murder happened at nighttime. It's likely that she was in bed, or getting ready to go to bed, and he was still downstairs. Here."

She held out a pair of gloves. Maggie accepted and put them on, and then followed Chloe into the living room.

The scene could only be described as a bloodbath. Maggie deduced immediately that the body of her father had to have been face-down in front of the coffee table, but the blood had splattered all around the room.

"Multiple blows…" Maggie muttered, more to herself than to Chloe, as she surveyed the scene. "… Based on the trail, he was sitting at the table when he was first hit, and then fought his way to the couch…"

"So, you're saying he probably didn't see the murderer coming?" Chloe frowned.

Maggie tilted her head, glancing around the room. "Either that, _or_ … he did. If he knew the person, or maybe even let them in first…" She turned back to Chloe. "Any cameras in the area?"

"None. No stores nearby that have CCTV, and no traffic cams either."

"What about neighbors?" Maggie continued. "Someone must have seen _something_."

"Aren't many houses around." Chloe shrugged. "I think someone went to the neighbors to the left, but I doubt they saw anything."

"Never say never. That's rule number one." Maggie raised an eyebrow. "Who found the bodies?"

"A colleague. Officer Bosley. When Oscar didn't show up for his shift without telling anyone, he visited the house just to make sure everything was alright."

"But you said there were no forced locks. How did he get in if the doors were locked?"

"Oscar left a key with him – they were good friends. When he and Katherine went on holiday, Bosley took care of Hunter."

" _Hunter_?" Maggie repeated. For a second, Maggie actually was terrified that her parents had had another kid while she was gone.

"Yeah, their dog. He's at the sheriff's station now, we're all kind of pitching in to take care of him until we can find him a new home."

The sigh of relief that escaped her was involuntary. But her mind started racing upon hearing it. "So Bosley unlocked the door, and found them?"

Chloe nodded. "He called help right away, the timeline confirms that."

"And where was the dog when he found them?"

"I… have no idea. I don't think he mentioned that in his statement." Chloe frowned. "But that's a good point. He came back to the station with the dog in the back of his car."

Maggie took a few more steps around the living room, trying to study as many details as possible. "Did they have any problems? Marriage on the rocks? Drama at work?"

"There's a briefing scheduled later this afternoon, where everybody who's out working the case is going to share what they got. My job was to go find you, so I'm not updated on most of it. But… Well, let's just say we're not used to having murders happen in Gage-..."

"…There were two perps."

Chloe stopped talking immediately, frowning. "How do you know that?!"

Maggie walked over to the wall, and pointed at the blood spatters. "See the outline?"

The officer took a step in her direction, and squinted. "I… _holy shit_ , you're right."

In the blood spatters, there was a vague human shape visible. Chloe's eyes widened. "So… there was somebody standing there and watching as whoever did it beat him to death?!"

"Maybe an accomplice, maybe Katherine." Maggie frowned. "Let's go upstairs."

The way Maggie was doing her job amazed Chloe beyond measure. The detective looked so trained, like she'd been on crime scenes all her life, and paid such attention to the smallest details.

Over half of the things she'd said so far weren't in the crime scene report.

As they headed up the stairs, Maggie's phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out to see a text from Alex. _Almost finished?_

Maggie shot back a text quickly. _Gonna take at least another 30 minutes. Go grab some food, I'll join you as soon as I can._

"She was found in the master bedroom." Chloe said, breaking the silence, as she pushed open a door.

Maggie immediately noticed that the blood spatter was much less present here as downstairs. There was a big bloodstain on the carpet, but barely anything against the bed or walls. "Seems like this was a less intense kill. A few blows, and leaving her to bleed out on the carpet instead of bashing like a mad man."

Chloe wrote down what Maggie was saying, but the detective continued quickly. "…That _could_ mean that this was anger aimed at Oscar, and that she was just collateral damage. Or that the killer had something against women suffering."

"Bleeding out from a bashed in head seems like more suffering than beating it inside out and being done with it." Chloe commented.

Maggie nodded, considering the answer before moving over to the bed. "Any evidence found here?"

"Just hairs, but they were brown and long, so we think they belonged to Katherine. We bagged them to be sure, but I wouldn't count on it."

The detective made a low noise to indicate that she had heard the answer, but then sighed. "Well, until I know more about them, I don't know what we're looking for. This could be a vengeance kill, a drunken fight gone wrong, a home invasion…"

"From what we can tell, nothing was stolen, so we're counting out robbery."

"Don't." Maggie shook her head. "Sometimes, robbers aren't after money or jewelry."

Chloe frowned. "What are you talking about…?"

"Did Oscar have work stuff here? Case files, contracts, warrants… Anything could be valuable to someone, and you wouldn't even know it's gone."

Chloe opened her mouth to respond, but her cellphone rang. She fished it out of her pocket and brought it to her ear. "Deputy Watson… _Now_? Okay, yeah. Can I bring-… Okay. On my way."

Maggie raised an eyebrow, waiting for Chloe to explain.

"Evans. The Gage County investigator – he's the homicide man around here. He called to say that the briefing was moved up, he wants us to go back to the sheriff's station right away."

Maggie frowned. "That means he _has_ something, right?"

"Well…" Chloe sighed. "Either that, or he just wants to meet you in person. And from what I just saw you do, I hope he's going to take a few pages out of your book."

"Let's not keep him waiting then. What about the crime scene?"

"Officer Collins is on his way. He'll be here any second."

Maggie didn't like to leave a crime scene unattended for _any_ window of opportunity, as small as it was, but also realized they didn't have a choice. And she trusted Chloe to have everything figured out.

* * *

"There she is, _Maggie Sawyer_ , in the flesh. We've all heard so much about you."

Maggie hated that the briefing room was filled with about ten people that all turned their heads to stare at her the second she walked in. But Chloe's look scared them off enough to back off, apparently, because it didn't last very long.

The man that had spoken the words looked to be in his late thirties, with jet black hair and a three day stubble. He was dressed in a suit, looking very slick and suave, contrasting with the uniforms of the rest of the people present. He raised his hand toward Maggie to shake. "Detective Gregory Evans. Gage County investigator."

Maggie shook his hand silently, convinced that she didn't need to further introduce herself. It sounded like Oscar had done his fair share of gushing about her.

"Glad to have you back here, Detective Sawyer." The man smiled. There was a gleam in his eyes that Maggie couldn't quite place, though. It made her feel uneasy immediately.

"I wish I could say the same, Detective Evans."

He chuckled, and leaned a bit closer so that the rest of the officers couldn't hear him whispering in her ear. "Word of advice, Detective: let us do our jobs. I know that you're probably eager to go all _Superman_ on the killers, but I'm afraid your judgment will be slightly clouded by the fact that our beloved sheriff kicked you out for being a _dyke_."

Maggie pulled back abruptly at hearing the words, but the man smiled and proceeded to address one of his colleagues as if nothing happened.

But it wasn't the slur that got to her, or even the veiled threat.

Did he say _killers_?

A red flag went up in the back of her head immediately. She hadn't read any reports yet, but based on Chloe's response to her blood spatter conclusion, it was clear that she hadn't seen it coming.

Evans cleared his throat, and the entire room went silent.

"As you all know, Sheriff Rodas was found dead yesterday morning. He and his wife were brutally murdered by brunt force trauma to the head. The autopsies are currently being carried out, we'll have that report the second they're done. What have we got?"

"Sir, we went to the neighbor's house but the Shumans were out of town to Lincoln for the weekend visiting their son." An officer from the front row piped up.

A woman in the back continued. "Forensics haven't had the chance to survey the crime scene properly yet."

Evans frowned. "Why not?"

"I froze the crime scene, Evans." Chloe spoke up from next to Maggie. "Detective Sawyer needed to see it in its untouched state."

The man's eyes flitted from hers to Maggie's, looking like he found the explanation absolutely ridiculous. "Well, we don't need Detective Sawyer's help, we're perfectly capable of handling this investigation." He turned back to the woman. "Tell forensics to head back to the crime scene right away."

"Yes, sir." The woman got up, reaching for her phone, and left the room.

Evans grunted. "Anyone else has some non-information to share? Now's the time, guys."

Maggie stepped forward. "Your crime scene report is incomplete."

The atmosphere in the room tensed instantly, as a few people glanced up at her. Maggie ignored the stares, instead focusing on Evans. "From what Officer Watson told me, there was no indication of the fact that the sheriff probably let his murderer in, or where the dog was located when the bodies were found."

A murmur went around the room, but Evans responded quickly, silencing the group once more. Maggie could see the smile on his face. Forced, almost grotesquely, like he was trying to show that his feelings weren't genuine at all. "I appreciate your help, Detective. If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to have a sit-down with you once the briefing is over, to go over any more… _things I've missed_."

Maggie decided to play along, and faked obliviousness. "Thank you. That would be great."

Evans turned back to the present Officers and opened his mouth to take the word again, when the door to the briefing room opened once more.

Much to Maggie's surprise, Alex walked in. Wearing a blazer that she only wore when she was trying to look official. She walked over to where Evans was standing, and raised a badge.

"Special Agent Alexandra Danvers, FBI. I'm sorry to interrupt your briefing, Detective, but this is now a federal case."

" _Federal_?!" Evans spat, shaking his head quickly. "We don't need the feds. On what grounds do you _possibly_ think…"

"Title 18 of the United States Constitution, Chapter 51, Article 1114." Alex raised an eyebrow in challenge. "If you could get me up to speed with the information you have, that would be very much appreciated."

Maggie felt her heart beat painfully hard, as she watched Alex's badass attitude actually making the confident investigator's entire stance deflate. As he glanced down at his officers, he cleared his throat quickly.

"Let's… take this conversation somewhere a little more private, Agent."

Alex nodded, and followed him out the door.

As soon as the two left, the Officers started talking loudly, all dumbfounded at what just happened. Chloe, next to her, chuckled weakly. " _Damn_ , Sawyer. Your wife actually _broke_ Evans."

But Maggie didn't respond to the statement, instead leaning closer. "I need you to keep an eye on him. I don't trust him."

"Who, Evans?" Chloe shook her head. "He's all bark and no bite. Actually a half decent guy if you get on his good side."

" _Chloe_." Maggie tried again. "Alex is going to get me on this investigation. Evans isn't going to like it, and I'm not sure what he's capable of."

The brunette now sensed how serious the detective was being, and nodded slowly. "I… Okay, but… Trust me on this, I've known the guy for years now. He's just doing what's best for his community."

"So was Oscar." Maggie growled back. "That didn't stop _him_ from _destroying_ his own daughter."

After that, she stormed out of the briefing room.


	6. Chapter 6

When Maggie found Alex, the woman was in the middle of a heated discussion with Evans, who seemed absolutely less than thrilled at the prospect of handing over everything he had to her.

Alex seemed more amused than anything, an eyebrow raised at the sight of the man going at her like a pittbull.

"… A thing or two about _respect_ , Agent! Something I don't expect you to _have_ because you _feds_ are all the same! Coming in here, waltzing over us, not letting us do our jobs…!"

As soon as the man spotted Maggie standing in the doorway, he stopped talking. Either he didn't want to embarass himself any further, or he was afraid of saying the wrong thing when she was there.

Maggie shook her head as she stepped into the room, making eyecontact with Alex briefly, before turning to face Evans. "Detective, you wanted to have a sit down about the evidence? I'd like to help."

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway, does it now?" He chuckled humorlessly. "Give whatever you have to _Agent_ Danvers here."

" _Detective_." Alex replied. "I've tried to tell you three times now that I see this as a team effort. I'm not here to solve this on my own, I'd like to work together with your department."

"Just so _you_ could walk out of here and take all of the credit." The man huffed.

Alex turned her head sharply, and stared the man down. "Is that really _all_ you care about, Detective? Getting credit for solving this? Your _boss_ and his wife were brutally murdered. This community seems like its in shock, the least thing you can do is _act_ like you care."

Maggie swallowed thickly, watching the man's response. When he just smiled politely and took a step back, she relaxed again.

"I apologize if I made it look like I don't care about his death, Agent. On the contrary – I assure you, I'm the first one that wants justice here. This isn't an honorable case, this is _personal_."

"Which is why you can't handle the investigation. Or anybody else in your department, for that matter. And since the neighboring counties are as understaffed as you are, the FBI called me in to lead the investigation using our resources. Detective Sawyer…" Alex turned to her and glanced her up and down with a hint of indifferance. "I know that you didn't come here to investigate, or do your job. But if you're prepared to, I'd like to have you on board. I could use someone with your expertise."

Maggie nodded, playing along. "Yes, of course. Whatever you need, Agent."

"It's settled, then. Detective Evans, I'd like to have two copies of all the reports that were made so far, so we can get to work."

The man nodded slowly, realizing that he wasn't going to talk himself out of it. But as he walked towards the door, he turned around once more, raising an accusing finger. "Don't think I don't know what's going on here."

He glanced at Maggie. "You might think you're better than me, but I know what the two of you are doing. Don't act surprised if it comes back to bite you in the ass."

After that, he left. Maggie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, and turned to Alex. "That was _amazing_ , Alex. Thank you so much."

"You wouldn't believe the stunts I pulled to get you that case." Alex sighed, folding her arms. "But I'm glad. That Evans guy seems like a douche."

"He said something to me, earlier. About the fact that I wanted to find the _killers_." Maggie said. "Plural. I noticed something at the crime scene that indicated there were two assailants, but Chloe told me nothing was written in the crime scene report."

"What are you saying?" Alex frowned. "He knows something?"

"I'm saying the only way someone could have gotten into that house was if Oscar knew them and opened the door for them, or they had a key. And either way, I think the biggest part of that pool of suspects is right here in this building."

Alex nodded slowly. "So we need a list of all the officers and deputies here."

"Chloe can help with that." Maggie said, already reaching for her phone, but Alex stopped her.

"Don't call her."

The detective raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"You _just_ said yourself that the killer could be law enforcement. She's part of that list, Mags."

"I…" Maggie shook her head quickly. "No, Alex. She wouldn't do something like that."

"Says who?"

"Says _me_."

"You don't know her."

"I _did_ know her, she was my best friend."

"Seven years ago." Alex countered reasonably. "You don't know what she's doing now."

"I know that her husband, who was a _cop_ , was murdered last summer. I don't exactly think that makes for the type of person to go bashing another person's head inside out."

Alex didn't reply, but kept her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. "I kicked Evans off that investigation for being personally involved with this case, but if you're going to start taking feelings over facts…"

Maggie sighed, and raised her hands in defeat. "Alright, alright. I won't call her, and I'll put her on the list. But I can't exactly avoid her."

"Don't." Alex shrugged. "Keep her as a friend. She _could_ very well be innocent. But until we know for certain, I don't want you getting too close to her either."

"Is that my wife talking?"

"That's your _boss_ talking. I don't want to pull rank on you, but I _am_ in charge here. So you'll do as I say."

"Don't remind me… _God_ , that storming inside earlier. That was _super_ hot."

Alex grinned weakly, dropping her tough act for a second. "You thought so?"

"Badass Agent Danvers always turns me on." Maggie smirked, before her face fell. "But… Not here."

"Yeah, I know." Alex smiled weakly. "Don't worry."

"I, uh… Went to my house. The crime scene, I mean." Maggie corrected herself quickly, but Alex noticed the slip-up. She didn't respond to it, however, instead giving Maggie space to continue.

"We should go back together. I didn't get the chance to analyze it properly, and there could be things I missed."

"Or things that were sabotaged already." Alex added, narrowing her eyes. "We could also ask the officer on the scene some questions."

"Read my mind." Maggie smiled, as Alex lead the way towards the exit.

" _Hey_!" They heard behind them as they walked down the corridor. The pair turned around and saw Chloe jogging towards them. "Sorry about Evans. I heard he gave you an earful."

"I can take it." Alex shrugged it off. "But thanks anyway."

"The medical examiner just called." Chloe continued. "He's finishing up the autopsy, and he wants to talk to you, Agent."

Alex glanced towards Maggie, who had stiffened next to her, but took control quickly. "I'll stop by the morgue."

"It's right across the street." Chloe turned to Maggie. "Mags, if there's anything I can do to help, you have my number."

Maggie nodded, and watched as Chloe shot her a sympathetic wince, and then walked back into the corridor.

"You don't have to. I'll go alone." Alex said quickly. "I'm sure it'll confirm what we already know anyway."

"No, I'm coming with you." Maggie insisted, shaking her head. "I need to hear it."

Alex hesitated for a second. Seeing the childhood memories pile up in Maggie's eyes was one thing, but seeing her parents' dead and mangled corpses?

She didn't want to put her through that.

But she _also_ knew how stubborn Maggie was.

The detective probably figured that one more trauma wouldn't hurt.

And it _killed_ Alex that she couldn't even touch or hold her wife now.

But she had to listen to Maggie's wishes now, as much as it pained her.

So with another nod, she lead the way down the street, to the small courthouse.

* * *

"Ah, you must be the FBI agent." The man said, reaching out a hand. "Christopher Becker, Medical Examiner."

"Alex Danvers." Alex replied, shaking his hand. "This is detective Sawyer."

The man's eyes stayed on Maggie's form for a few seconds too long, before he cleared his throat quickly and got to work. "I just finished the autopsy on Oscar."

The two followed him down the hallway and into a cold room. Though Maggie had been in plenty of morgues before, it still gave her chills.

Especially now.

A body was lying down on a slab, covered with a sheet. Becker stepped towards it, and stopped right in front of it. "Based on the autopsy, the time of death was Saturday night, around midnight."

Their bodies were found on Monday morning, so that meant they _had_ been lying at home for two days without anyone noticing.

"Katherine's cause of death was exsanguination, from what looks like one single blow."

"One blow?" Maggie repeated. "So it must have been a weapon that did a lot of damage."

Becker nodded. "She was bleeding from her nose, so I suspect the blow caused a basilar fracture to her skull."

"Anything else on Katherine Sawyer you can tell us?" Alex asked.

"Well, she had some bruises on her arm that _could_ be from her being dragged somewhere. And there were also traces of semen, but based on the other evidence, I don't think she was raped."

"What abour Oscar?"

Becker sighed ostentatiously, moving towards the sheet to pull it up.

Maggie involuntary closed her eyes the second she noticed what he was about to do, but the slight gasp next to her coming from Alex made her all the more scared to open them.

She knew she had to, though. So she steeled herself, and swallowed down the bile threatening to fill her throat, blinking slowly.

The man was unrecognizeable.

She didn't know whether she was grateful for that fact, or absolutely terrified.

Becker, oblivious to the two women's response, continued. "Blunt force trauma, from the same weapon. Multiple blows this time, I counted at least three but his skull more or less exploded upon impact, so it's hard to tell."

Alex shifted her weight so that her shoulder was lightly resting against Maggie's; the closest physical comfort she could give her without acting suspicious in front of the man.

Maggie appreciated the contact, but she knew she had to continue asking questions. "What about him? Any other marks? Internal damage?"

"Nothing concerning. Although I did find a hair on his head that didn't belong to him."

Alex frowned when she saw Maggie stiffen. "Long and brown, by any chance?"

Becker nodded. "How did you know?"

Alex was looking at her, apparently eager to know the answer as well.

Maggie grunted. "That probably means that Katherine was murdered first, and a hair of hers got transported onto him by the weapon. _Fuck_."

That set her working theory back about twenty steps.

"I'll have the full autopsy reports ready in about an hour. But from what I can tell, the only interesting thing about them is the fact that both of their skulls are bashed inside out."

"Okay, thank you. You can send the reports over to the station, I'll make sure we get copies."

After that, Alex led Maggie out the door, who was finally starting to look nauseous.

As soon as they were out of sight for the man, Alex grabbed Maggie's waist to steady her. "Hey… Mags, look at me. Are you okay? Talk to me."

"They didn't kill him first." Maggie managed to stammer shakily. "Why didn't they kill _him_ first?"

Alex frowned at Maggie's statement, but blamed it on the trauma, and moved towards the truck. "Come on, we're going to get some lunch. You need to eat something."

The last thing on Maggie's mind was food, but she let herself be guided back towards the parking lot.

Why would Oscar open the door for someone who went upstairs to kill his wife, and then beat _him_ to death? It didn't make sense. It felt counterintuitive.

As Alex drove, talking about a small diner she'd seen somewhere around town, Maggie's mind started racing with possibilities, theories and suspects.

The agent discovered soon enough that Maggie was in her focused state, and ceased her attempts at conversation. But when her phone rang, she put it on speaker to answer it immediately. "Danvers."

" _Alex? It's Chloe._ "

"Hey, Chloe. Maggie is in the car with me, we were just on our way to grab some lunch."

" _Uh… Something happened_ _while the two of you were away._ "

Alex glanced sideways to share a look with Maggie, whom she noticed was paler than before. "What? What are you talking about?"

" _Evans. He, uh… Well, I guess he was still angry about the case. He uh… Did some digging into the two of you. And he found out some things._ "

"What things?" Maggie shot back in frustration. "Chloe, just _fucking_ say what you mean."

Chloe sighed. " _He found your wedding pictures, Mags._ "

Maggie froze.


	7. Chapter 7

As angry as Maggie was upon hearing that the guy had looked into them and found out what they meant to one another, it was _nothing_ compared to the fury that was written on Alex's face.

As soon as she'd disconnected the call, Alex had yanked at the wheel, doing a full 180 degree turn on the road they were currently on, and sped back towards the sheriff's office.

"Alex…" Maggie whispered, feeling her stomach clench at the thought of what her wife was up to. But the agent shook her head.

"We're dealing with this _now_ , and _quickly_ , before the rest of the officers find out." She said. "And I swear to God I'm going to put his ass in place for doing it, too."

" _Alex_." Maggie tried again. "Please…"

"Please _what_?!" Alex shot back. "The guy needs to be handled, _now_ , before he makes a mess we can't fix!"

Upon Maggie's downcast eyes, Alex huffed. "Why the hell are you being like this? _You_ were the one that said we needed to keep things quiet!"

"I don't… want to draw attention." Maggie mumbled, tracing the pad of her thumb with her other hand nervously.

Alex opened her mouth to argue, but clenched it shut forcefully, willing herself to calm down. She couldn't lose it in front of Maggie.

That's what that damn _Evans_ guy was for.

So with newfound carefulness, she tried again. "Mags, I promise you, I'm going to fix this. Nobody in Blue Springs will know. Just wait in the car, alright? Just a couple of minutes, and then we can go grab food and not think about him again."

Alex empowered her point by stopping the truck abruptly in front of the sheriff's office, and cutting the engine. "I'll be right back."

As she moved out of the driver's seat, she felt a hand rest on her upper arm. She turned around to see Maggie looking at her with an unreadable expression. Before she pulled her back into the car, and reached forward to cup her cheek with her free hand, kissing her passionately.

When they pulled away, Alex was sure she saw tears in Maggie's eyes.

"Be _careful_."

Maggie Sawyer admitting defeat wasn't a sight Alex had seen too many times before, but she recognized it immediately. So without another word, she left for the building in front of her, her hand already twitching to make contact with a specific, stubbled face.

"Where is he?!" She asked the receptionist immediately as she shot through the door. Upon the mousy woman's wide eyes, she sighed. "Detective Evans. Where is he?"

"I-In the back…" The woman pointed towards the corridor. Alex nodded quickly, and then took big strides through the hallway before finally arriving at the bullpen.

" _Evans_." She raised her voice the second she spotted him standing around a bunch of his co-workers. "A _word_."

The man looked up with a grin, apparently surprised to see her. "Agent Danvers! How nice of you to join us again so quickly. Tell me…" He raised the tablet he was currently holding, showing a picture of her and Maggie locked in a passionate kiss, both wearing white wedding dresses. "… Which one of you is the guy? _Wait, wait, don't answer_. It's _you_ , isn't it?"

Alex didn't respond, instead gauging the other officer's responses. To her relief, the three officers didn't look like they found his joke hysterical. If anything, they just looked uncomfortable.

A weak smirk appeared. _This shouldn't take long_.

"Are you married, detective?"

Evans lowered the tablet, still grinning at his own joke. "I'm never getting married. Single life is the best life."

"I see." Alex nodded. "So, not only are my jokes funnier than yours, I can also get more women, apparently."

Evans' head shot up at the sound of one of the officers next to him stifling a laugh. The man tried to keep a straight face, but seeing the detective's glare only made him crack up harder.

"You think that's funny, Agent?" Evans stepped forward. "You think _I_ don't have friends in high places that can get you kicked off this investigation?! Two can play _your_ game."

"Good thing I'm just trying to do my job without games then." Alex raised an eyebrow, seemingly unfazed. "And before you decide to talk about me _or_ my wife again, let me remind you that I can very well get _all_ the dirt on you, detective. And then we'll see who wins."

"Is that a _threat_ , Agent Danvers?" Evans took another step, until they were at arm's length. "Because I'd like to see you try."

"Great." Alex forced herself to smile. "But until then, you stop acting like what's going on between me and detective Sawyer is _any_ of your business, and focus on the fact that you're going to do _anything_ you can to get us up to speed with the investigation. Sounds like a plan?"

Wounded in his pride in front of his colleagues for the last time today, apparently, Evans spat at the surrounding officers. "Leave us."

The three didn't seem eager to leave, but a small nod from Alex made it clear that she had the situation handled. A quick thought of Maggie in the car made her fingers twitch towards her gun holster involuntarily.

She didn't give him the satisfaction of being in charge of the situation though, instead opening her mouth the second the other officers left. "You had _no_ right. And if you keep acting like an asshole, I'm going to _keep_ putting you in your place. Haven't you done enough to damage your ego for one day, detective?"

"You have _no_ idea what's coming." Evans shot back. "You don't even realize it, do you? _I'm_ not the bad guy here."

Alex huffed. "Somehow, I find that hard to believe."

Evans leaned closer, until his face was almost touching hers. "You think she's _safe_ here? Where everybody knows exactly _why_ he kicked her out? You really think it _matters_ that you're there to be her bulldog when she can't even protect herself?"

"You're _pathetic_." Alex shook her head. "No wonder you're _here_ , instead of actually solving murders out in the city."

Evans' face changed slightly, and if Alex wasn't so trained, she would have probably missed the expression. "Maybe Maggie needs protection from a more _adequate_ source."

"If you as much as go _near_ her again, you'll regret it." Alex spat angrily, leaning closer too and raising a threatening finger. "I won't hesitate. She'll forgive me."

"And you cater to her _every_ need, don't you, Agent?" Evans smiled back. "You even took off your _ring_ , how considerate of you." He stepped back abruptly, breaking the tension between the two of them. "Make no mistake, Agent. I meant what I said. I'm a good cop, compared to _others_. Some people here won't be as… _accommodating_ to your kind."

"I'll keep it in mind." Alex said. Though she didn't want him to see the impact his words had on her. With her and Maggie's talk about the killer possibly being law enforcement in the back of her head, she wanted nothing more than to pry about what he meant by the statement. But it could also just be bluff, and she didn't want to give the man the satisfaction.

"I _love_ my wife, detective." She finally said. "I'm sorry you can't handle that."

She didn't wait for his response to walk out the door.

* * *

Instead of going to the diner, Alex drove to a small sub shop a few miles out of town, and then back to their hotel room to get some privacy.

Eating was spent mostly in silence. Alex was sitting down on the chair at the small desk in the corner, while Maggie sat down on the bed, staring at the carpeted ground.

The detective hadn't asked about her encounter with Evans, and honestly, Alex didn't exactly want to scare Maggie more than their surroundings already had. But she _needed_ to talk to Maggie. Because as traumatized as Maggie seemed about everything, she herself wasn't exactly a big fan of Blue Springs and its people either.

Truth be told, Alex hadn't encountered all too many homophobic people until she met Maggie's father. During her coming out, she hadn't expected any of her family, friends or coworkers to treat her any different, and people in National City were generally very open and cool about homosexuality.

But she hadn't known more about the town than Maggie had told her, and it seems like Maggie's reason for fear and hesitation in terms of showing off their relationship were entirely justified.

Alex _hated_ Blue Springs already, and she hadn't even been here more than a few hours.

"What do you think?" She asked instead.

Maggie's head shot up, as she had just bitten down on the last piece of her sandwich, frowning. "About what?"

"The case. What does your gut say?"

Maggie sighed, swallowing and tossing her wrapper into the nearby trash can. "Can we talk about something else?"

Upon Alex's understanding nod, Maggie backtracked immediately. "I just… I need time to think."

"No, I get it." Alex said quickly, smiling. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Have you heard from Kara?"

"I called her earlier, when you were out. She said to give you her best, and that she could be here in less than two hours if you needed her."

Maggie smiled weakly, appreciating her sister-in-law's sentiment. But Alex saw that it didn't reach her eyes completely, and put away her sandwich. "Tell you what. How about you tell me that story that you still owe me about McConnell and his mother-in-law at that barbecue last summer?"

Alex moved forward and jumped onto the bed, positioning herself so that she was lying down, her head resting on the pillow. Maggie joined her, needing to feel her wife's touch that she'd missed so much in the past hours.

She rested her head on Alex's chest, and chuckled, as she started to tell the story. And as much as it felt like such a stupid story to tell, she instantly felt better by how Alex was running a hand through her hair, laughing quietly at the jokes and nodding along.

When it was over, they stayed like that for a while, neither of the two ready to let this go.

Let the other go.

To Maggie, this room was her only safe place in the hundreds of miles surrounding them. Lying in Alex's arms, feeling her wife's heartbeat in her ears, and not seeing the scrutinizing gazes of the people of Blue Springs.

To her, it was magic.

Alex, however, couldn't get her mind off Evans' earlier words. The man had clearly hinted that something dark was going on in the Gage County sheriff's department, and that Oscar had been a part of something that ultimately led to his death.

But the way he'd said that Maggie needed more adequate protection haunted her the most.

At the time, Alex hadn't thought about it in the slightest, instead focusing all her anger on the man.

But now that she thought about it, throughout all of the bluffing and macho behavior, the man had flashed an expression of regret and vulnerability that Alex hadn't seen coming at all.

That, combined with the predictions of a bigger threat within the sheriff's department actually made her wonder if Evans really _was_ the douchebag he was claiming to be.

Or if there actually was more to his story.

That thought only added more fuel to her assumption that he actually _knew_ who the killer was, and it made her mind race with possibilities.

Maybe the entire police department knew who'd done it. Maybe it was a team effort. A coup, something to get rid of Oscar as a sheriff.

Which only made her more curious to see who the second-in-command was. It felt odd that none of the deputies had mentioned anything about a new sheriff, or whoever was going to take Oscar's place. And shouldn't Lincoln already have been notified about the sheriff's death?

Alex's state law knowledge was rusty at best, but she _did_ remember that usually someone was appointed right away.

For now, though, she filed all of the thoughts away, instead holding her wife closer and kissing the top of her head slowly.

Whatever Evans had hinted at, they could take.

They were going to get through it together.


	8. Chapter 8

After their short but blissful moment together, it was back to reality for the both of them.

They split up – Alex went back to the police station to get updated on the current situation, and Maggie went back to the crime scene to get another look. She felt like she had unfinished business there, like something was still to be discovered.

While she'd asked Alex to come along – she knew that Alex had a different way of looking at evidence, and she appreciated how complementary that made the two of them – she _had_ noticed a change in Alex's mood. It seems like she wanted to handle Evans on her own for some reason.

She wondered briefly if it had anything to do with _her_.

Instead of thinking about it too much, she dropped Alex off at the sheriff's station, and drove back to Blue Springs to park in front of her own driveway.

Seeing a man in police uniform sitting on the front porch, reading a book. He had a hat on against the sun, a bun sticking out underneath. She couldn't see the title of the book he was reading, but the cover looked like it was a scientific book.

"Officer." She greeted him tentatively.

The man looked up quickly, his eyes widening. He was obviously not expecting her to be there. "Oh! My apologies, ma'am, I didn't see you." He closed his book quickly, eyeing her. "You're Sawyer, right?"

Maggie nodded. "I need to take another look at the crime scene."

"The forensics team already passed by to collect some more evidence." He said. "Said they'd come back around three."

"I'll make sure to be out of your hair by then. Officer… Collins, right?" She remembered vaguely what Chloe had told her.

The man flashed her a smile, and nodded. "Thomas Collins, deputy sheriff."

Maggie smiled politely at his introduction. "Maggie Sawyer."

"Yeah, he mentioned you."

She assumed he was talking about Oscar – a thing she'd heard all too many times today, and they weren't even well in the afternoon yet.

"Do you have the reports of forensics? What they took, what they analyzed…?"

"Oh, uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know about those, actually. I suppose they'll give them when they come back?"

Maggie closed her eyes, already feeling herself grow frustrated at the lack of professionalism in the small town police department. No paper trail meant people could do as they please, trample evidence or even _steal_ it away from the scene.

But the man in front of her couldn't do anything about it, so she didn't want to take it out on him either. Instead, she settled for another nod. "It shouldn't take too long."

"I'll be right here if you need me, Detective."

He reached for his book again, and now Maggie finally saw the cover properly. It was about microbiology, something that surprised her. "Are you into science?"

"Huh? Oh." He noticed that she was looking at the book. "Yeah. I actually started studying biochemistry before I went to the academy. Always figured I'd end up a scientist – seems life took me in another direction."

"Oh, you should talk to my-… _Agent Danvers_ , then. She's a bioengineer." Maggie corrected herself quickly, her stomach turning at the thought of what she almost admitted to the man.

He seemed unfazed though, as his eyes widened. " _Really_? Wow, small world." He grinned. "I'll have to ask her some questions! Do you know what she's specialized in?"

 _Aliens_ , _mostly._

"I don't know her field, actually. You should ask her, she loves to talk science." Maggie deflected with a smile. Collins nodded enthusiastically, and moved to his book.

Maggie took that as her cue to get inside, and reach for a pair of gloves in her back pocket she'd taken at the station.

But the second she walked back into the living room, she frowned.

 _Something was different._

As she glanced around, her brain working overtime to figure out what exactly had happened in the few hours that passed since she'd last been there, her feet automatically walked towards the dinner table.

The last time she'd sat down at that table, Oscar had pulled her off her chair and shoved her down onto the ground, yelling at her. Screaming, telling her that he never wanted to see her again.

Her glove-clad fingers lingered over the exact chair. The scratch from where it had scraped against the table on its way down, the one she'd been staring at for minutes while he yelled at her, spat at her, _screamed_ at her…

While he put his hands on her, and threw her around, shoving her out of the house.

He must not have noticed the scrape. Otherwise, he'd have fixed it immediately.

Because – yes. She was a detective. She _did_ notice details.

Like how there were no childhood pictures of her anywhere. Like they'd erased her out of the house for good the day he threw her out.

But why would Oscar follow up on her cases and tell everyone how great she was, if he still hated her?

Maggie realized that she was starting to come to terms with the fact that she would never understand the man she thought she knew all those years ago.

And now, it wasn't like she'd be able to talk it out with him.

In one big wave crashing over her, all of the emotions that she'd tried to push down for the last few hours, ever since she arrived back in Nebraska, flooded her head.

She felt her knees wobble, and half-sat, half-fell onto the chair she'd just been studying.

Through the panic, she barely saw the irony.

But now that she was steady, she buried her head in her hands, the tears coming faster than she expected, streaming down her face.

How could it all have gone so wrong…

She wished that she'd never agreed to Chloe's invitation. That she'd kept the chapter of her childhood locked away, never to be talked about again. Because she wasn't sure she was ever going to recover from this.

It felt like something inside of her had broken at the sight of Alex standing in Blue Springs, bossing all of the homophobic douchebags around. She should have never agreed to bring her wife into this hellhole, she should have…

She shot up suddenly, running towards the kitchen where she knew a door lead to the garden outside, and fell onto her knees in the bushes, throwing up the little she had eaten all day.

After another round of pathetic dry-heaving, she felt herself sag down into the grass.

" _Fuck_ …" She whispered, hoping she hadn't contaminated anything in her haste to get outside.

As she shakily got back to her feet, she willed herself not to look at the garden, though she did remember every inch of it from all those years ago. Off memory, she managed to stumble back into the kitchen without having to open her eyes, afraid that the familiar sights would bring on a new wave of nausea.

In the kitchen, hanging above the small table, was a corkboard that had grocery lists, letters and coupons pinned on it. A picture of Oscar and Katherine, on a trip somewhere apparently, with Oscar kissing Katherine's temple.

It was a pose she recognized – as she and Alex had made the same photo a few months back on their honeymoon.

She couldn't look away from the photo, instead forcing herself to memorize every detail. Shaky hands reached forward, and unpinned the photo from the board, putting it in her pocket.

The photo wouldn't be considered evidence at all. And while she wasn't sure whether she was ready to burn the photo, or put it on her nightstand…

Having it in her back pocket somehow made sense.

She glossed over the other information on the board, but didn't see a lot of things that were all that interesting. There was a supermarket receipt from Saturday, so that meant that one of them had left the house on the day of the murder.

She browsed through the cupboards but found nothing, and then moved on to the fridge.

Maggie had handled more murder cases than she could count, and whenever the leads were iffy, or she just wasn't sure where to begin, the two starting points of any house were the refrigerator and the trashcan. Both told a lot of stories on who the owner was, their lifestyle, and what they did in the last hours leading up to their death.

From what she could tell, the two lived a pretty healthy lifestyle – there were plenty of greens and juices, no take-out containers, barely any alcohol…

She probably had her mother to thank for her own biological lifestyle.

Another piece of the puzzle of her own life, she mused.

She headed back into the living room with the intent of checking out the drawers, but as soon as she entered the room once more, she finally realized what she'd been racking her brain about.

The blood splatter on the wall – the one she'd told Chloe about. The one that told her that there was another person present.

It had been… _altered_ , to say the least.

Extremely subtle, but enough to be visible for her trained eyes. There were splatters removed, and others added, to make it look distorted enough that the human shape wasn't at all visible anymore.

Anger flared up inside her as she realized that somebody from the forensics team had messed with the scene.

She sped out of the house once more, and stopped when Officer Collins jumped up at the sound of the slamming door.

"Is everything alright?" He frowned, seeing Maggie's disheveled state.

But the detective ignored his question. "The people from forensics. Who are they?"

"Uh… There were two of them. They came up from Lincoln, I don't know their names."

"Who ordered them to come up here?"

"That'll be Chief Deputy Bosley, ma'am." Collins replied. "He is the one acting in charge until we have further instructions from Lincoln."

Something in Collins' face changed, and Maggie caught it. It seemed like the man wasn't all too happy with Bosley in charge.

She made a mental note of it – the new sheriff had been the one to find the bodies too.

 _That_ was a coincidence she wasn't a fan of.

"If you need him, I'm sure he's clearing out Oscar's office by now." Collins huffed. "Guy couldn't even wait until his body was stiff to put his own name on the door."

"Well, there has to be a way to stop him, right? Won't there be a vote or something?"

Collins shook his head, tucking his thumbs underneath his belt. "Nothin' we can go about it until the next election, unless you want to start going door to door to get signatures to get the guy impeached."

Maggie sighed. "I have to go. If you see the forensic team again, send them away. That is an order."

"On what grounds, ma'am? They're just here to do their jobs." Collins frowned.

"Officer, those people destroyed evidence, I don't want them anywhere _near_ my scene again."

" _Your_ scene? What about Evans?"

" _Forget_ Evans." Maggie grunted. "Me and Agent Danvers are in charge now. So if you see them come back, you send them to the sheriff's station, where I'll be waiting for them. Understood?"

Collins nodded quickly. "Yes, ma'am."

He watched with a frown as she got back into the truck.

* * *

As soon as Maggie set foot in the police station again, fuming for what felt like the thousandth time that day, she spotted Alex sitting in a meeting room, reading through a file and talking to a man Maggie couldn't see.

She knocked on the door, and waited for Alex's reply to open it. "Hey. Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." The man replied. Maggie now saw that it was the same man who had pulled her over this morning, who had practically manhandled her. "Hello, detective."

"Hi." Maggie replied, turning to Alex. "Could we talk? In private?"

The Agent looked up. "Is it about the case?"

"No." Maggie lied quickly, to get Alex away faster. "Unrelated. Something about National City."

Alex nodded, glancing back at the man as she got up. "Excuse us for a second, Sheriff Bosley."

Maggie's eyes widened.


	9. Chapter 9

She willed herself not to panic, and to make it seem like she was unfazed by Alex's unconscious revelation.

As her wife walked outside, Maggie smiled politely at the man one more time, before pulling Alex out of the police station, and into an alley where she was sure nobody would see or hear them talk.

"Uh…" Alex frowned. "Mags, is everything alright?"

The detective rubbed her hands together, taking a deep breath. "The crime scene. Someone changed the blood spatter."

" _Changed_?" Alex's eyes widened. "What? How?"

"Did you tell anyone about the second assailant? The blood on the wall, the human outline. I told Chloe at the scene, anyone else?"

"Evans hinted at it, right? He told you. I told Sheriff Bosley when I noticed it wasn't in the report."

" _Fuck_ …" Maggie sighed. "Alex, I know what's going on."

Alex stepped back, waiting for Maggie to explain.

"It's so _fucking_ obvious, Alex. Bosley has a key to their place, he's the second-in-command so he becomes Sheriff the second anything happens to Oscar, and Evans is covering for him because _he_ was the other shape, he was there that night too."

Alex opened her mouth, but Maggie continued on. "He knew about the blood spatter, so he ordered a Forensics team to mess with the crime scene, just enough not to be visible on the photographs. He _killed_ them, Alex."

Alex took a deep breath. "How much evidence do you have to back this up?"

"That Officer that was guarding the scene, he told me that Bosley was ready to jump into Oscar's office the second he dropped dead, that's _motive_."

Alex shook her head. "And also hearsay, that wouldn't hold up in court. What else do you have?"

"If I take a picture of the new blood pattern we _might_ be able to see a difference."

"… That we don't have any window for, since the original crime scene photos were taken yesterday."

Maggie balled her fists, getting frustrated. "Okay, well, why don't we go _ask_ the fucking guy then."

After that, she stomped back inside. Alex's eyes widened. "Wait, _Mags_ , no…!"

Maggie ignored her, running back to the meeting room and throwing the door open once more.

The man was reading through the case files on the table, and looked up at the sound of the slamming door.

"Chief Deputy Bosley." She said, sitting down on Alex's previous seat next facing him. A few seconds later, Alex ran inside as well, an exasperated sigh escaping her as she closed the door behind her.

She settled on staying upright, leaning on the table between the two of them.

"Detective… Is something wrong?" The man frowned.

"Why did you pull me over this morning, Officer Bosley?" Maggie started, raising an eyebrow and reaching for the case files on the table to pull them away from him subtly.

Alex frowned upon Maggie's statement – and the detective suddenly remembered that she had completely forgotten to tell her wife about the event.

"Well, like I told you… I thought you had stolen the truck."

"But I _couldn't_ have stolen the truck. It was right here, in the parking lot. You would have known that, if you'd been at the police station before you pulled me over."

"I wasn't – I came straight from home. I pulled you over on the way over there."

"That's funny, because _I_ remember that there is a law against taking police cruisers home at the end of the shift in this county." Maggie leaned forward, narrowing her eyes. "You want to try again, Deputy Bosley?"

"What is this?" The man shook his head slowly. "Why are you beating down on me like this?! Is it because I overreacted this morning? Look, I'm _sorry_ , but this situation has me a bit paranoid. You would be too if your best friend turned up dead on the weekend. _I_ found him, you know. Your dad. _And_ your mom, both of their skulls in pieces."

If it was meant to be a scare tactic, it didn't work, because Maggie only smiled. "No, don't worry. It's not because of you throwing me around – although I will be including that in the report. It's funny that you decided to single me out this morning, you know. Their daughter. You _knew_ that I was on my way, you knew I was a detective and that I wouldn't have left it alone." She tilted her head. "Did you see me as competition? Because you could have just driven me off the road in your cruiser, nobody would have believed me."

Bosley shot up, an indignant scowl plastered on his face. "Are you _accusing_ me of something, detective?!"

"Where were you this Saturday around midnight, Officer?"

Bosley huffed, a cynical laugh escaping him as he shook his head. "You think _I_ did it?!"

"I have the evidence to back it up." Maggie raised her eyebrow again. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be much more comfortable than Oscar was when you decided to bash his head inside out just so you could take his badge."

" _Detective_." Bosley hissed through his teeth. "You're making a mistake."

"Give me your cuffs." Maggie said, ignoring him. When Bosley only shook his head, she reached forward, and grabbed him by the back of his uniform, shoving him down onto the table and reaching for his pair of handcuffs.

"Detective Sawyer." Alex warned. "You are _not_ in charge of this case."

Maggie's head shot up, her eyes widening. She continued to cuff the man's hands behind his back, and then stepped back. "Be my guest, Agent Danvers."

Their eyes locked, and Maggie's stomach dropped when Alex shook her head, a disappointed glare on her face.

In that second, Maggie realized that Alex wasn't willing to arrest the man.

Maggie was just about to open her mouth to argue, when the Agent suddenly stepped forward, sighing and grabbing the Officer by the arm.

"Adam Bosley, you are under arrest for the murders of Oscar Rodas and Katherine Sawyer."

Maggie's head spun with relief. Though Alex kept looking at her with a glare that said that she was anything but happy with the choices Maggie had made in the past few minutes.

* * *

As soon as the hotel room door slammed shut behind her, Alex raised her voice. "How could you be so _stupid_?!"

" _Stupid_?!" Maggie yelled back. "The guy _killed my parents_! He's a murderer, what the fuck else was I supposed to do?!"

"Be fucking _smart_ about it!" Alex laughed helplessly, running a hand through her hair. "He's the _sheriff_ and you have _zero_ evidence to back up your accusations! If you'd have _waited_ until you actually _had_ something…!"

"You _know_ he did it! Why are you being like this!" Maggie shook her head in disbelief.

She had walked the man down the corridor of the police station in cuffs, where his entire team could see, and had deposited him in one of the jail cells. She'd been _proud_ to show him off as a perp, she felt it was the justice that her parents deserved for being slaughtered in such a brutal way, just for the man's _ambition_.

And yes, she didn't have the evidence to back it up yet, but Alex had to trust her enough that she would get it. If she wouldn't get a confession from Bosley, then she wouldn't sleep until she had enough evidence to nail him down.

"Actually, I _don't_."

Those three words made Maggie's blood run cold.

But if Alex saw the way she stiffened, she didn't say anything about it.

"You're connecting dots that aren't there. Yes, things are happening, _yes_ we both know that someone here is involved. But we don't know that he did it. And the fact that you put me in that position, where you _forced_ me to arrest him – I'm holding that against you."

"You want evidence? I'll _get_ you some. By tonight." Maggie hissed, anger boiling inside her at the thought of Alex not being on her side.

After that, she stormed out of the hotel room, and towards the truck. Unsurprisingly, Alex hadn't run after her. She knew the agent well enough to know that if Alex was stubborn enough to think that she was right, then she wouldn't apologize just to get out of the fight.

As she sat in the truck, she leaned to her right to pull open the glove compartment, reaching for the wooden dog toy inside of it.

She caressed the ridges, running her thumb over the smooth wood, and taking a deep breath. "What am I missing, dad? From what I heard, you were a better cop than me."

She chuckled weakly, feeling tears brimming in her eyes once more, but refusing to let them fall. "What should I do, _dad_? Help me…"

She rotated the toy in-between her fingers, until she finally noticed carvings in the dog's belly that she hadn't noticed before.

 _Lucky to have you, Margarita._

The words hit her like a punch in the gut, but she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, nodding slowly. "You're right. I'm going to make you proud."

After that, she revved the engine, and sped out of the parking lot.

* * *

"Who called Lincoln, asking them for a forensic team to re-survey the crime scene?"

Bosley sighed, leaning against the bars of the jail cell. "That was me, detective. And you know that. I called the LPD for assistance."

Maggie wrote something down onto the notepad she was holding, and nodded. "Were those the same people that surveyed the scene at the initial call-in of the murders?"

The man closed his eyes, growling impatiently. "I don't _know_. Call the LPD, get records, I don't know."

"You are the new sheriff, Bosley. You _should_ know."

Bosley leaned closer, narrowing his eyes and hissing at her. "This isn't _fucking_ National City, detective. We don't have helicopters and hundreds of CSI's at our disposal whenever we want them."

"The answer to a question I _never_ asked." Maggie was getting impatient too. He was clearly circling around her, not answering any question directly.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing? Pulling me into a jail cell like a common criminal? I worked my _ass_ off to become Chief Deputy, you're _ruining_ my career over something you don't know _anything_ about."

"Then, please, enlighten me." Maggie shot back, all attempts at remaining professional now out the window. "If you're eager to share theories I'd be happy to listen, but this just all sounds like a bunch of evasive _bullshit_ to me."

Bosley grunted. "Agent Danvers told me about the two killers. I don't know _anything_ about that, but I _do_ know that Saturday evening, me and Evans were both at the station together." He leaned forward, lowering his voice to a whisper. "He left around ten – said he had some case files to go over, and that he was stopping by Oscar's house before he went home."

Maggie dropped back into her chair with a loud sigh.

Of _course_ Bosley would throw Evans under the bus. If he really had been his companion in the murder, it was easy to blame him in trying to get away with it.

"Do you have _any_ evidence that backs that up?"

"He took a cruiser." Bosley nodded. "They have GPS in them, that's trackable. If he really stopped by Oscar's house to kill him, the car will show that he was there."

"And _why_ would Evans kill the sheriff? Any idea?" Maggie wrote down _GPS?_ onto the notepad, though she was sure that Bosley was right.

And Evans was definitely her next stop.

"I don't know." Bosley admitted. "Maybe Oscar said something to him while he was there that he didn't like. Evans is a weird guy, always has been. He might have snapped."

Maggie nodded along, closing the notepad and getting up. "Thank you for your time."

"I hope God finds the strength to forgive you, detective."

She didn't bother to reply, shaking her head as she walked out the door.

She pinched the bridge of her nose as she walked down the corridor of the police station, seeing officers whispering to one another and stopping as she passed by.

It seemed that the gossip around the arrest had started. Maggie honestly didn't care – they could believe whatever they wanted about the man they considered to be a good substitute for Oscar.

She knew better.

She headed for the receptionist, asking her politely for Evans' home address. The hesitations and arguments for privacy from the woman were heard but not accepted, and a few minutes later Maggie walked out of the station holding a slip of paper with an address on it.

As she walked down onto the street, she noticed the sun was starting to set, bathing her surroundings in a bright red. She checked her watch – it was a little past six.

No evidence yet, but she was convinced that she'd nail Evans this time around. If she couldn't talk sense into him, she had other tricks up her sleeve.

Gotham and National City were lots of things, but they were excellent playgrounds for learning how to get information out of suspects that thought themselves too good for her.

And she wouldn't stop until she got the truth tonight.

She headed into the parking lot, walking towards the blue truck, and reaching for the key in her back pocket.

As she took it out, and reached for the door handle, she felt a bag being thrown over her head.

She yelped out, raising her elbows to hit behind her blindly, and felt her arm hitting something solid behind her.

After that, something hit her on the back of her head, and everything went black.


	10. Chapter 10

Alex figured she'd have to pay to get the carpet in their room re-done after they checked out, because she was pretty sure there would be a hole in it if she continued pacing around.

The notion didn't stop her, though, as she was far too angry at her wife to form a coherent thought.

She'd seen plenty of Maggie at crime scenes and during investigations to know that the detective was formidable at her job, and paid close attention to details. But Maggie was also passionate about justice, and usually went along with her gut feeling.

Only this time, Alex was convinced that Maggie had made a mistake.

It wasn't that she didn't think Bosley was guilty. Truth be told, she'd considered the man a suspect just like the rest of his team, but as she'd told Maggie before – _they didn't have evidence._

And the explanation that Maggie had given her had made sense, but she was certain that she could find a motive in every cop in the county, if she wanted to.

Her hands clenched into fists again as she remembered how Maggie had put her in an impossible position, demanding her to arrest Bosley without any evidence.

She didn't even have probable cause.

His statement taken at the initial scene when he had discovered the bodies was legit – Alex had read it, Maggie hadn't. She'd asked him about the dog, something Maggie had casually mentioned when they were driving together, and he'd explained that Hunter was outside in the garden. They must've let him out. Or maybe the killer had tried to get him away from the house. Either way, he hadn't initially seen the dog at the scene.

To Alex, that made perfect sense.

And she wasn't a police officer like Maggie was. She didn't have the training to solve murders. But she did know how to interrogate people – and based off the cues that Bosley was giving her during their time together, _her_ gut feeling told her that the man was clean.

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cellphone, dialing a number from her recent contacts and bringing the phone up to her ear. After a few seconds, she heard a click.

" _Hey Alex._ "

The agent smiled. "Hey, Kara."

" _I'm just finishing up at work, here. Almost ready to sent in my article. How's everything over there? How's Maggie?_ "

Alex sighed, dropping down onto the bed. "She's… I don't know. We had a fight."

" _What? What about?_ "

"I'm worried, Kara. She's so intent on finding out who killed her parents, I don't think she's allowing herself to grieve anymore."

" _I didn't realize that it was so serious… You told me that she didn't really have much contact with her parents?_ "

"She didn't. The last time she saw her dad was at the shower. But…Kara, she's suffering. Everyone here keeps talking about how great her parents were, and I think it's really messing with her head. She's making wrong decisions, she's not thinking straight."

" _You should talk to her, Alex. You're the only person she can trust over there._ "

Alex laughed weakly. "I'm in charge of the investigation, Kara. I'm her _boss_ , I had to tell her that she couldn't do whatever the hell she wanted, and she lashed out."

" _Well… Maybe she lashed out at you because she can be vulnerable with you. I know it sucks, but… I think you just have to show that you're there for her. That's the only thing you can do, besides catch the guys that did it… Do you want me to come? Maybe they'll talk to Supergirl…?"_

"No, it's fine. We can handle it. Besides, these guys aren't aliens. They're just homophobic idiots. One of them lost his temper with Oscar and killed him and Katherine, and they're covering it up. It's policework, and Maggie's _amazing_ at it. But…" Alex sighed, rubbing her temple with her free hand, "… I should have never tried to take the case. I should have let her grieve instead of dragging her into doing this."

A knock on her the door of the hotel room made her look up, interrupting Kara's reply. "I got to go. But I'll call you again tonight, alright?"

" _Yeah. Love you._ "

"You too." Alex disconnected the call and walked over to the other side of the room while tucking her phone back into her pocket. She opened the door, and frowned immediately at the sight of Chloe in the hallway, in uniform and looking pale and scared.

"You need to come with me."

Alex nodded slowly, holding the door back so that the woman could enter the room while she grabbed her stuff, but she noticed immediately that her behavior was off. "Everything alright…?"

"We need to get back to the police station."

Chloe's cryptic answers were starting to annoy her, but Alex assumed that she didn't want to discuss it in a hotel hallway, and she didn't blame her. Instead, she grabbed her badge, gun holster and jacket, and nodded as they headed downstairs to the lobby.

But when they ran towards Chloe's police cruiser and the brunette still hadn't said a word, Alex got impatient.

As the woman started the car, Alex cleared her throat. "So… uh… Anything on the case?"

"Alex, I need you to listen to me, _very_ carefully." Chloe said, glancing in her rearview mirror as she got onto the road. "There are security cameras outside the police department. Horrible quality, but they work. Nobody _saw_ it happen, so we don't have any witnesses, but…"

" _Chloe_." Alex responded, already fearing what the woman was getting at. "Take a breath, and tell me what's going on."

The brunette swallowed thickly. "Alex, Maggie got abducted."

Alex's heart stopped, her head spinning upon hearing the words that haunted her in nightmares and scared her in daydreams – _Maggie was gone._

"Who took her?"

"Like I said, the camera quality is crappy, but it looked like two men, average height, average build. They threw her in the back of a green pickup truck. That's all the information I have, they called it over the radio, I was patrolling. I raced over to the hotel as soon as I heard."

"Well, this is a small community, right?! Who do you _know_ that has a green pickup truck?!" Alex yelled, already feeling her stomach clench at the scenarios her mind conjured up.

"Too many people to count." Chloe sighed. "But there's a list of vehicles at the police station, so we should-…"

"Tell them to send it to my phone." Alex shook her head. "There's no time to regroup and talk it over. Maggie's in danger."

She bit her lip. If someone took her, that means that she had either figured out the truth, or was close. And she didn't want to think about how many people around here owned guns.

She could be dead already.

Alex clenched her eyes shut at that realization, and took a shaky breath. "I don't know who the next sheriff in line is, but I'm going to have to talk to them."

"It's never happened like this before, but I assume we'll have to vote between the deputies."

"Get that sorted as soon as we find her – we're going to need warrants signed." Alex clenched her jaw, trying to remember what Maggie had told and taught her about abduction cases.

Don't waste time, time is crucial. Go off of evidence, make a timeline. Never say never.

Chloe pulled her cruiser over, and reached for the radio, calling in that she needed the list sent to Alex's phone, while asking for updates.

The creaky voice on the channel replied. " _The two men had their faces covered, but they came prepared with a bag over her head and a baseball bat, so it wasn't a random act._ "

It was clear that they had targeted Maggie.

"Anything on the license plate?" Chloe sighed.

" _Nothing, Watson._ "

Chloe glanced back at Alex, who had her hands clenched into fists. She thanked the dispatcher quickly, and reached forward to put a comforting hand on Alex's thigh. "We're going to find her, Agent. You're FBI – you're _trained_ for this."

Alex chuckled dryly. "Yeah."

 _None of her training was going to get Maggie back._

Suddenly, the radio creaked back to life. " _Watson?_ "

It was a very unusual callout on an official police radio, but Alex ignored the confusion and watched as Chloe reached for the device again. "Copy."

" _Watson, it's Evans. Tell Agent Danvers to meet me at the playground on Second street in ten minutes._ "

Alex leaned forward into her seat, nodding quickly at Chloe's questioning eyes. As the officer confirmed the rendezvous over the radio, Alex's mind started racing.

Maggie had made it clear that she was convinced that Evans was involved. And Evans _had_ warned Alex about Maggie being in danger – he'd practically _predicted_ that she would end up in trouble.

 _Was this Evans' work…?_

Was the meeting going to be a ransom demand…?

Alex's stomach turned once again, but she willed herself to keep calm. She couldn't run in head-first with assumptions. That's what she'd shunned Maggie for not even an hour ago.

Oh god… the last thing she'd done was yell at Maggie, screaming at her that she was stupid…

"Hey." Chloe's voice shot her out of her thoughts. "We're going to get her back. You know Maggie, she's tough. She'll be okay."

Somehow, Alex wasn't all that sure.

* * *

As soon as Chloe pulled over on Second Street, Alex practically jumped out of the car, drawing her gun.

"Wait here." She ordered, glancing back into the car.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Chloe frowned.

"No, I need you to stay here at the radio in case there's an update. I'll make it quick."

Chloe nodded slowly, watching the agent run towards the figure in a long coat, standing by a rusty set of monkey bars.

"Detective." Alex greeted, clutching her gun in her right hand, but aiming it down. She didn't trust the man at all, but there was no need to come in guns blazing.

Especially if he knew where Maggie was.

"Agent." He replied.

"What do you know about this, Evans?" Alex asked. "Where is Maggie?!"

"We need to talk."

Alex huffed, taking a step back. "My _wife_ is missing, _right_ when she's convinced that she's figured out who is behind the murder. That's a little convenient, don't you think?! If you don't have any information, what the hell is there to talk about?!"

"I never said I _didn't_ have information, Agent."

Alex was just about to give the man another piece of her mind, but she decided to bite her tongue for now, trying to keep calm and listen at least a few seconds to what the man had to say.

"There's not much time." He continued, glancing around.

Alex narrowed her eyes. "What the _fuck_ are you talking about?!"

" _Agent_ , listen to me." Evans looked dead serious, and met her eyes. "This town is dangerous. _Leave_ , while you still can. Go back to National City, take her with you. Pretend this never happened."

Alex's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "I _can't_ take her with me, because she's _gone_ , Evans. Did you have something to do with it?!" Her hand stretched out to raise her gun.

The man shook his head. "I'm not pulling my gun on you, Agent. I'm warning you. _Leave._ Or the next time, she won't be so lucky."

" _Where is she_." Alex hissed through her teeth, finally aiming at his face. "WHERE THE HELL IS MY WIFE!"

"Leave, and don't come back." Evans said, taking a step back, his hands now raised up in the air. "She's at the Grant farm, east of town. The barn."

"I'm coming _back_ for you, you son of a bitch." Alex spat, her face contorted with anger. "If you killed her…"

"I didn't _touch_ her. Alex." He said her name for the first time, shaking his head. "I don't want the two of you getting _killed_ for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. _Trust me_. I'm on your side. But this town… You don't get in the way of things. Especially not when you're Oscar's daughter."

Alex stumbled back towards the cruiser where Chloe was waiting, not interested in hearing the rest.

She pulled the car door shut behind her and yelled the location at Chloe, and the Officer put on the siren and lights, and sped through the streets of Blue Springs.

The drive couldn't have been longer than five minutes, but it felt like an eternity to Alex, as she repeated the conversation with Evans in her head over and over again.

Could he be trusted? Was she walking right into a trap, and taking Chloe down with her?

She glanced sideways, but the brunette officer seemed as intent on getting her friend back as Alex was, staring straight ahead, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched.

She looked ready to go to war.

As soon as they were a street out, Chloe shut down the siren to stay unnoticed, and drove up the dirt road that led to the farm.

"He said she was in the barn." Alex whispered as soon as they came to a stop and Chloe killed the engine, reaching for her gun. "You go through the front, I'll take the back. If they're armed, shoot to incapacitate. If they aim at you, shoot to kill."

"Roger that." Chloe nodded, and Alex shot out of the car, gun raised and running along the barn. She waited around the corner until Chloe was in position and signaled that she was good to go, before heading towards the back.

The barn was dimly lit by a few gas lamps hanging on the wall, but it was quiet. The only sound she heard was a noise she couldn't place, that sounded like it came from inside.

Slowly and carefully, she pulled open the barn door, wincing as it creaked slightly, before slipping inside.

On the other side of the barn, she vaguely saw the shape of Chloe mirroring her with a raised gun. She knew that Chloe could see her so she wasn't scared of friendly fire, but there could very well be hostiles aiming at her right this second.

 _This_ was the part she was trained for.

Her eyes darted around the barn, especially the dark upper floor, where she could see bales of hay stacked to the ceiling.

Someone could be hiding over there easily. But so far, she hadn't spotted the barrel of a gun sticking out anywhere.

She cursed herself for not having a vest, but Chloe only had the one she was wearing in the cruiser, and there was no time to get another one.

The unidentified noise became louder, and Alex took a few steps towards where she located the sound. The middle of the room, behind more hales of bay.

If there was a hostile there, they were doing a poor job of staying hidden.

Chloe seemed to have heard it too, nodding as the two closed in on the center of the room, guns raised and getting ready for the imminent confrontation.

Alex searched eye-contact with her current partner and raised her hand, counting down from three to one with her fingers.

 _Three… two… one._

Alex leapt forward, gun raised, and saw Chloe do the same.

"Police!"

They barely managed to spot two cats, hissing at them and scattering in opposite directions. Alex sighed and lowered her gun. "Clear."

 _Evans had lied to her._

She hadn't even finished the thought, before she heard the unmistakable sound of a bullet whizzing past her ear, a loud _bang_ filling the room.

Alex jumped on top of Chloe, dragging her down to the ground and pulling her behind a bale of hay, crouching down. More gunshots were audible, and Alex realized that the hay would be punctured easily if they took another shot.

She oversaw the situation, analyzing it in a few seconds and turning to Chloe, wincing as the gunshots continued. "Get to the back, try to get a shot. Cover me, I'm going to try and flank them!"

Chloe nodded, and Alex provided cover fire for her as she ran to crouch down behind a wooden pallet, returning the gesture as Alex sprinted towards the creaky wooden stairs leading to the upper floor of the barn, firing her own gun multiple times.

The bales of hay upstairs formed a labyrinth of narrow corridors between them, but at least she was out of sight for the gunman momentarily. Slowly, she moved in on where she thought he was, gun raised. The gunfight between the man and Chloe continued, and Alex prayed desperately that he wouldn't get a decent shot at her.

Finally, she rounded a corner and saw a man with his back turned to her, a hunting rifle in his hands and firing down onto the pallet.

Slowly, she walked towards him, hoping her footsteps on the creaky wooden floor would be drowned out by the echoes of the shots.

Unfortunately for her, he took that exact time to stop shooting, and Chloe didn't return fire immediately, leaving a momentary silence.

A creak underneath her foot giving her away.

The man spun around and raised the rifle, and Alex didn't hesitate, firing a round in the man's chest. The gun in his hands went off as he went down, but it hit the ceiling above. Alex threw the rifle out of his reach immediately, checking for a pulse.

"Shooter down!" She yelled to Chloe. "We're clear!"

Alex didn't lower her gun, but continued her exploration of the upper floor, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone to use as a flashlight.

The man had been waiting for them, so that meant that he knew they were coming.

"You okay?" She heard Chloe yell at her.

"I'm fine. You?!" Alex shouted back, shining around every corner she could.

"It's Willy Grant." Chloe responded. She had to be talking about the gunman, having reached his body.

Alex nodded slowly, but didn't reply.

"He has a son, they run the farm together. He lives here too."

 _Good point_ , Alex realized. _There had been two kidnappers._

Before she could answer, or give Chloe new orders, she heard a weak moan coming from her right, and froze, turning her head in the direction.

There was a long, narrow corridor between two rows of hay, that stopped at the wall of the barn.

In the darkness, she could vaguely make out a shape lying down on the ground.

Her heart stopped, as she ran forward, lowering her gun and the flashlight, and falling down onto her knees.

She had found her.

"Oh god… oh… baby…" Alex's shaky voice whimpered, as she cupped her wife's cheek. Maggie's reply was a weak and pained moan. When Alex carefully raised her phone to shine the light on her wife's form, she saw the bruises and blood covering her face.

Her own blood boiled at the thought of that man putting his hands on Maggie, hitting her and hurting her.

"It's okay, you're safe. He's dead, I'm here." Alex whispered, kissing her forehead gently.

Loud footsteps ran in her direction, and Alex raised her gun immediately, ready to kill whoever would try to take Maggie away again, but then saw that it was Chloe, her own gun raised but lowering it immediately with a breath of relief.

Alex took charge. "We need to get her out of here. Go check the house, see if the son is there. I'll get her back to the car and call it in."

Chloe nodded and ran off while Alex focused back on Maggie, who was slowly opening her eyes.

" _A-Alex_ …?"

"Hey…" Alex smiled weakly, as she holstered her gun and put her phone back in her pocket, reaching forward to pick Maggie up in her arms and carry her bridal style, all the while whispering words of comfort.

"T-they…" Maggie moaned, but Alex shushed her quickly.

"Don't talk, Mags. You can tell me everything at the hospital."

But her wife ignored her, emitting another painful moan, before taking a shaky breath. "T-they said I'm g-going to _hell_."

Alex clenched her eyes shut for a second, shaking her head and telling herself not to think about it. She needed to get Maggie out of here, _fast._

"It's going to be okay, babe…"

Alex didn't even believe it herself.


	11. Chapter 11

When Alex arrived at the car with a semi-conscious Maggie in her arms, she was just in time to see Chloe raise her gun and walk through the front door of the farmhouse.

As gently as she could, she put Maggie in the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt. "Mags, babe? Are you with me?"

Maggie nodded sluggishly, her face contorted in a grimace.

"You need to stay here, okay? Don't move around. I'll be right back."

She hated leaving Maggie alone like this, but she had a job to do first.

Make sure her partner doesn't end up with a bullet in the back of her head on the floor with nobody around to see it.

Alex made sure that her wife was comfortable, before closing the car door and pulling her gun again, running after Chloe towards the house.

She pushed the front door open with her foot slightly, already hearing footsteps ahead of her, and she considered her options.

Yelling out that she was in the house too could save her from an accidental bullet headed her way from Chloe's gun, but it could also give away the edge she might need to take the man by surprise.

The footsteps came closer, and Alex realized that it wouldn't take long until Chloe saw her.

So she settled on keeping her gun raised but standing still, hoping that it would be enough to not be seen immediately as a threat.

Though, the second a shape turned the corner into the small hallway, it was clear that Alex had miscalculated dearly.

Because now, she was right in front of a man in a checkered shirt with a big smile on his face, holding a shotgun loosely in his left hand.

"You must be the _other_ one." He grinned. "I've been waiting."

Alex kept her gun trained on the man's figure. She hadn't heard a shotgun going off, so that meant that either Chloe was still around somewhere, or he'd incapacitated her without killing her.

"Why did you take her?" Alex asked, trying to keep her voice steady. "Did someone pay you? Was it Detective Evans?"

The man tilted his head. "She don't belong here. She shoulda never come _back_ here."

Alex hesitated. "Okay, let's talk, alright? I just want to talk."

"With a _gun_ pointed at my face." The man sneered. "I don't think so."

She nodded, and lowered the gun, pointing it at the floor. "There. No guns. Just talking. Why did you take her?"

The man chuckled, cocking the shotgun in his hands. "I think that we're _done_ talking, you filthy _dyke_."

In that second, she realized that the man was going to shoot her.

Just as Alex desperately raised her pistol again, hoping that her training would make her the fast one, a shot rang out.

Alex instinctively fired a round herself, but the man was already falling.

Revealing a wide-eyed Chloe standing behind him with a raised gun.

Alex sighed in relief, her head spinning with the sheer knowledge of how _close_ the encounter had been, as she dropped down to a crouching position.

 _If Chloe hadn't been there…_

"Alex! You okay?!" The brunette ran up to her. "He didn't get you, did he?!"

"No." Alex shook her head quickly. "Go check if he's still alive, get that gun away from him."

As she watched the Officer move towards the man's body, Alex got back up, adrenalin still gearing through her, and started checking the surrounding rooms.

"He's still got a pulse!" She heard Chloe yell out. "I'll call an ambulance!"

"Get one for Maggie too." Alex replied. A part of her hoped that the man would bleed out and suffer like he'd made Maggie suffer, but she knew that she had to do everything in her power to make sure that he survived.

Killing two civilians on her first day wasn't exactly how she thought the trip to Nebraska would turn out.

* * *

"William and Robert Grant. Around here, everyone called them Willy and Bobby. They ran the farm, and mostly stayed out of people's business. When Willy's wife died a few years back, everyone in the town came to the funeral, though."

Alex nodded along, but tried not to retain too much of the information. The last thing she wanted was to be confronted with the fact that those _monsters_ had emotional backstories. And she knew that she couldn't blame Chloe, the officer was just trying to understand like she was, but chair underneath her was hard, and she was too worried for Maggie to properly think.

There was something _off_ about Chloe's tone, though. Maybe it was the adrenalin wearing off, but the woman had clenched fists and looked ready to either start punching anything around her, or crying.

Alex could sympathize with it, but she didn't understand why the woman seemed so angry.

"Willy was a big conservative. He wasn't a big fan of Oscar as a sheriff, said that he was too left to run a place like Blue Springs. Everyone respected the Grants, so Oscar did what he could to keep the guy at ease."

Alex was just about to ask what that meant, when she finally saw a tear slipping down Chloe's cheek. Her expression softened immediately. "Hey… You alright?"

Chloe gave the tiniest shake of her head, and Alex wrapped her arms around the woman quickly. "It's alright… She's going to be okay…"

"It's…" The woman sniffed. "It's not _that_."

Alex pulled back to look her in the eyes and waited for the woman to elaborate.

"Willy has another son – David. H-he uh…" She took a deep breath, wiping at her tears. "H-He's the man that shot and killed my husband."

 _Oh._

Chloe's sobs came even harder now, and Alex held her tight, letting her vent.

"It happened at the farm." Chloe took a shaky breath. "We had to find Maggie back, I couldn't… _think_ about it, but…"

Alex nodded wordlessly, and understood. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be confronted with that.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Chloe said when she'd calmed down slightly. "I didn't want you to think I was incapable."

"Chloe, _listen._ You were better than some trained agents I have in my team." Alex shook her head. "I mean that. You stayed calm, followed my instructions and you got Maggie out alive and well without getting hurt. That's a _win_ , Chloe. You can be proud of yourself. Your _husband_ would be proud."

"Officer Watson?"

Chloe wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand quickly, attempting to appear at least a bit more composed, as the two saw a doctor walking over to them. "I have an update."

Alex felt her heart thump painfully in her chest as she waited for the man to elaborate.

"Detective Sawyer suffered from a slight concussion and a fracture in her eye socket. Apart from that, nothing seems broken, just a lot of bruising. She was beaten, but not extensively, from what I can tell. And there are no injuries anywhere else on her body from what we can tell, so it seems like they only went for her face."

Alex felt like she could breathe again, upon hearing that Maggie had been lucky.

 _Lucky_ , she scoffed to herself.

"What about Bobby Grant?" Chloe asked. "Any word?"

"He's in surgery, still. There is an entry wound in his back and one in the lower abdomen, that's all I can tell you right now. But I'll try to get some information on him soon. Detective Sawyer is ready to be discharged."

"Great." Alex pulled herself up from the chair. "I'll fill out the papers. Can I see her first?"

As the man nodded, Alex noticed that Chloe hadn't gotten up alongside her. A glance back made it clear that the woman wasn't going to either. "You go ahead, Alex. I'll stay here and wait for updates on Bobby."

"Are you sure…?" Alex frowned. "I'm sure Maggie wouldn't mind."

"No, I uh… I think I need to be alone for a bit."

"Okay. You have my number, right? Text me if you know anything."

Chloe smiled weakly. "Go be with your wife, Alex."

Alex nodded, and followed the doctor through a maze of corridors, until they finally arrived in an examination room, and he opened the door for her.

Maggie was sitting upright on the bed, staring ahead. As soon as the door opened, she looked up to meet Alex's eyes.

In the fluorescent lighting, the bruises on her face looked even worse than they had looked outside the farm. But Alex still beamed at the sight of her. "Hey. Come on, let's get you back to the hotel room."

Maggie returned the smile weakly, and hopped off the bed reaching for her jacket. Alex wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, but didn't expect Maggie to actually flinch away from her.

Alex immediately took a step back, a hurt frown appearing on her face. "Mags…?"

"Just… It might be better if we…"

Alex's stomach turned as she remembered what Maggie had said when she found her. And then how that Bobby guy had called her a _dyke_ before he'd tried to shoot her.

The last thing she wanted was to pressure Maggie in telling her what they had done to her. What they had told her, the things they'd spat at her.

She didn't need to. Because Alex had a perfectly clear picture.

But Alex also knew damn well enough that those two men didn't just throw her into the back of a truck to beat her up for being gay.

And whatever the Grants had against police, no matter how stupid they were – they couldn't possibly be 'try to kidnap someone in daylight right in front of a police station filled with cops' stupid.

Because _Evans had known._ He'd _told_ her where Maggie was.

The only question was _how_.

She filled out the forms quickly, meeting Chloe in the waiting room, who looked at least slightly more relieved to see Maggie up and smiling.

Maggie thanked her extensively for her help, and Chloe waved it all away, saying that she was just happy that her friend was okay. Maggie looked like she realized that something more was going on, but like Chloe, she didn't respond to it.

Just as Alex was ready to leave, Chloe looked her in the eyes, and handed her something from her pocket. "I'll keep you updated. Take the cruiser."

Maggie frowned up at the two, but Alex just nodded and glanced down at the keys, before walking out of the hospital.

"What was that about?" The detective asked as soon as they were outside. Alex didn't respond immediately, heading for the police car in the parking lot and unlocking it.

"We can talk about it when we're at the hotel." Alex dismissed any further attempts at conversation the second she saw Maggie's mouth opening again.

Her wife didn't look satisfied, and Alex felt guilty for not being a bit more lenient towards her, but she knew that Maggie didn't want to play the comforting game in public. To the people of Nebraska, Alex was Maggie's boss. _Maybe_ a friend.

Nothing more.

And if that was the part she had to play, then Alex would keep it up, all the way until that hotel room door clicked shut behind them.

* * *

It was close to 9 when they finally arrived in their room, and Alex ushered Maggie towards the bed, despite her wife's protests.

"I'm _fine_ , Alex. It's just sore. I don't need rest."

"Let me remind you who went to medical school between the two of us." Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, for two years."

It was Maggie's favorite faux-insult to throw back at Alex whenever she used the 'I'm-a-doctor'-argument, so Alex knew it was coming. She shook her head slowly, gently tracing Maggie's temple with her thumb. "Just for a little while. Please?"

If Maggie did end up sleeping through the night, all the better. But she needed _some_ rest, at least.

"Will you stay with me?" Maggie asked, looking up at her.

Alex nodded solemnly. "I promise, babe."

"Okay. But I need a shower first."

Alex had tried to ignore the blood on her hands from where she'd run her fingers through Maggie's hair, but understood that Maggie wanted it gone as soon as possible.

"Want me to join you?"

Upon Maggie's tentative head shake, Alex nodded and stepped back. "Okay. Are you hungry? I could go look for some food, if you want."

"No, I'm fine."

After that, the detective disappeared into the adjacent bathroom, while Alex headed for Maggie's suitcase to pull out a new set of clothes for when she stepped out of the shower.

Realizing that her job was momentarily done, she reached for her phone to check if any new messages had come in. There were a few texts from Chloe's number.

 _Still in surgery. Updates not looking good._

 _Need to head back to police station for emergency meeting._

 _We're voting on a new sheriff._

From what she'd seen from the woman in the field, she hoped that at least some people would have a mind to vote for her.

Alex heard the shower turn on, and took a seat on the chair by the desk, pulling out her laptop. Maybe she could check her emails, see how things at the DEO had been today.

Her phone buzzed on the desk, and she reached to pick it up, showing a text message from Chloe that had just been sent.

Her breath hitched.

 _Vote is over. Evans won._


	12. Chapter 12

For the first time since arriving, Alex felt defeated.

She was frozen, staring at the screen and reading the words over and over again in disbelief.

 _Evans was the new sheriff._

 _Fuck._

The door to the bathroom opened, and Maggie stepped out, a towel wrapped around her hair and waist.

Alex watched her move towards the bed and reach for the clothes with a grateful smile. Her wife dropped the towel and got dressed.

Finally, Alex broke the silence. "You uh… Want to talk?"

Maggie slowed down her movements, thinking about the question, but then shrugged. "What's there to talk about?"

Alex raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to argue, when Maggie continued. "They tied me up in a barn, they _beat_ me, and they told me I'm a sinner. So-… _What's there to talk about?_ "

The agent was speechless.

Maggie huffed and moved on. "I should have seen it coming."

"They made sure nobody was around, they didn't-…"

" _No_. I meant – I should have seen it coming that Bobby would be the guy to do it." Maggie glanced up, just as she pulled her shirt on. "I went all the way from Kindergarten to middle school with that guy, he's a _psycho._ Always has been. I'm surprised he didn't stab a _rake_ through my chest the second he got the chance."

Alex felt like someone had slapped her in the face, her eyes brimming with tears. "Don't… don't _say_ that."

Maggie turned her head to look at Alex, and her eyes widened when she saw her wife's expression. "I'm… I'm sorry."

She moved closer to Alex and put a hand on her cheek. Alex reached for it, and clenched it in her own, holding on for dear life. Maggie smiled, but winced when it tugged at a row of butterfly stitches in her cheek. "I'm _here_. I'm okay. I'm sorry that I worried you."

Alex laughed wetly, through a tear rolling down her cheek and landing on Maggie's hand. The detective rubbed it away gently.

It seemed like this was as good a time to tell her as any.

"Babe, I… I need you to sit down." Alex sniffed, breaking away from the touches.

Her wife frowned. "Alex, I told you, I'm _fine_ …"

"No." Alex shook her head. "I need to tell you something. About what happened."

Maggie nodded slowly, and sat down on the bed, as Alex knelt down in front of her, reaching for her hands.

"After we fought here and you ran off, Chloe came knocking to tell me that you were abducted."

Maggie sighed. "I should have listened to you, I _should have_ …"

"Shhh." Alex shook her head. "We'll talk about that some other time, that doesn't matter now. _Listen_. Chloe and I jumped into her car, I was… I was _terrified_ that something really bad had happened. But then Evans called Chloe on the radio, and asked to meet with me."

The detective's eyes widened, as she already seemed to be puzzling certain pieces together.

"… He told me where you were, Maggie. I would have _never_ found you that quickly if he hadn't just told me. You could have _died_ before I got to you."

Maggie ignored the last part, instead focusing on the encounter. "He _knew_?!"

"Either he saw what happened, or… he set it up."

"God… _fuck_ … No, Alex." Maggie shook her head. "Bobby Grant and his dad are homophobic assholes, and that guy has been wanting to kick my ass ever since he heard that I came out. They wouldn't be caught up in some big plot."

"I'm not so sure."

"Well, did you interrogate them? Did they tell you anything?!"

Alex squeezed her wife's hands gently. "I shot the father through the head in the barn. Chloe shot Bobby, he's in surgery."

"Bobby's dad was a weird guy but… But the people here liked him a lot." Maggie whispered.

"Yeah, I heard. I assume it's not going to make me any more popular. But _Mags_ , Evans gave up where you were, but he warned us. He said we had to leave and not look back."

Maggie huffed. "Of course he did. He probably told them all about you and me, and why I deserved to be left in a ditch somewhere. He's trying to scare us off, Alex."

"Well, I'm starting to get scared." Alex replied. "If one of those guys takes you again, who's to say they won't kill you the second they see you? Maybe this really _was_ a warning. Maybe we should go home."

Maggie shot up from the bed, an incredulous look spreading across her face. "Are you serious?! You've gone five rounds with aliens three times that asshole's size, and _won_! How the hell can you give up!"

"Those aliens don't _have you_ , Maggie. You think I don't see the looks people here give you?! You think I can't see how much this is getting to you?! You're not _talking_ to me, and you _promised_ me that you would! And instead, all I'm hearing is excuses and dismissals and ' _I'm fine'_ s. And I'm _done_ seeing you suffer, because I _know_ you're not fine!"

After the outburst, Alex was breathing heavily, and tears were pricking in her eyes again.

Maggie stayed silent for a few seconds, feeling her own tears appear, but shoving them down.

"What do you want me to say, Alex? Huh? That I'm _scared_? Well, I'm fucking _terrified_." She whispered. "I _hate_ it here, this place reminds me of _everything_ I've tried to overcome in my life. My parents couldn't love me enough to support me, and the rest of the town sided with them. I walked through the streets for _hours_ looking for _anybody_ who would take me in, and all anyone did was pretend they didn't _fucking_ see me. So _no_. I'm _not_ okay, I'm fucking _anything but_ okay. Is _that_ the answer you were looking for?!"

Alex took a step back, and dropped down onto the bed once more, while Maggie wrapped her arms around herself.

"Chloe just texted me that they voted for a new sheriff to take over as long as Bosley is in custody."

Maggie looked up to meet her eyes.

Alex sighed. "Evans won."

"Of course he did." Maggie whispered, shaking her head. "This whole town is fucked up." She turned and reached for her slightly bloody leather jacket that Alex had draped across the chair.

"What are you doing?"

Maggie raised an eyebrow as she pulled the jacket on. "Having a talk with the _new_ sheriff."

"No. No, _no_ , no, you're _resting_." Alex reached for Maggie's arm, gently holding her back. "Mags, you have a concussion."

"Yeah, and the guy that's responsible apparently just got a promotion. Look, I _promise_ it won't be a repeat of what I did with Bosley. I'm not running in and pulling a gun on the guy, but I need to do _something_."

"Yeah. Getting in that bed and _resting_." Alex was done playing nice. "If I have to handcuff you to the bed, I will."

She'd meant it as a weak joke, an attempt to try and talk Maggie down from her rage, but when she saw the fear flash through her wife's eyes, Alex realized that she'd joked too soon.

"Sorry, I… I shouldn't have said that."

Maggie looked down. "You'd want to do the same, Alex."

"I know. And you'd be the one _begging_ me not to do it, too."

"The sooner we get proof, the sooner we can return to National City." Maggie reasoned. "And then I literally _won't move_ from our bed for a week. You can fuss all you want then, but the _job's not done_ , Alex."

Alex knew very well that she'd lost. But she had to salvage what she could, raising a stern finger. "If I see that you're not okay, I'm putting you on a plane _instantly_. And I'm not even _fucking_ around, Sawyer."

Maggie nodded solemnly. "Deal."

After that, Alex reached for her phone and jacket too, and reached for the doorknob. But a hand on her shoulder made her turn her head.

Before she realized it, Maggie had pressed her against the hotel room door, her lips on hers in a passionate and desperate kiss.

Alex felt Maggie flinch and knew that her wife was hurting, but Maggie didn't look like she was ready to pull back. Instead, she wrapped her arms around her neck and reveled in the fact that _Maggie was here_ and _alive, so alive._

When she finally pulled back, Maggie was breathing heavily, and looking at her with such adoration that it took all of Alex's breath away.

"I _love_ you, Alex."

They usually said it about five times a day, whenever they could. On the phone, in the morning, right before they went to bed…

But the way Maggie said it right now made Alex's heart race. Because she could see the storm of feelings behind Maggie's eyes, and how much it actually had to _hurt_ for her to say it, considering where they were.

"You're my _everything_."

Alex smiled, and carefully rested her forehead against Maggie's, mindful of her wife's injuries.

"I love you too, Mags."

After that, the detective took a deep breath, and led the way out the door.

* * *

"Chloe!" Maggie yelled as soon as they entered the police station, seeing the brunette just heading in a meeting room.

"Mags…?" The officer looked genuinely surprised to see her. "What are you doing up? You should be resting."

"Yeah, I heard." Maggie smiled weakly. "Don't worry, I feel fine. I need to talk to… the new sherrif."

Chloe glanced at Alex.

"I told her." The Agent replied. "She deserved to know."

"Look, I know how this looks. But – believe me – Evans is a good guy."

"That's what _he_ said too." Alex raised an eyebrow. "The bad guys always think they're the good guys. Chloe, he told us to leave town and don't come back."

"To be fair – I _really_ want to tell you the same."

Alex ignored the comment. "We need to talk to the sheriff about how to proceed with the Grant case. We need to figure out how we're going to proceed. And it _fucking_ sucks, but I can't bypass the law and do this on my own."

"Maybe you don't have to." Chloe frowned, looking at the pair. "Since Evans became sheriff, they promoted me to Investigator."

Maggie's eyes lit up. "That's _great_!"

"Yeah." Chloe looked proud, but also a bit scared at the prospect. "But… I mean, _that aside_ , that means that I can be your liaison with the police department. You don't have to talk directly to Evans if you don't want to."

"That's a start." Alex said, sighing. "We'll see how it goes. Is there a room somewhere we can talk?"

"Yeah, the investigator's office is up the stairs."

Alex and Maggie followed her to the first floor, and headed inside a small but at least _private_ office.

As Maggie shut the door, Alex went to the whiteboard on the wall immediately. "We know that Evans is involved with the abduction. It might have just been a scare tactic to keep us away from the vote so that _he_ could become sheriff."

"Not much to be afraid of. He got eight votes out of ten. There was one blank, and the other was for Collins, but I'm pretty sure that was a joke. He looked like he didn't see it coming, either."

"So, you…?"

"Voted blank, obviously." Chloe raised an eyebrow. "I want things to go officially, not have some sort of popularity contest. I wouldn't see Gregory Evans as a sheriff. But…" She sighed. "… Here we are."

"No surprise that Evans voted for himself, but the rest of the police force… They must really like him."

"He handled Jeremy's murder case, too." Chloe admitted. "Most of it was a blur, but he was _so_ nice to me, he listened to what I wanted, never crossed a line, everything went by the book. And I _know_ that's not what you guys want to hear, but the rest of the force agrees with me."

A knock on the door made the three look up.

"Come in." Chloe frowned.

The door opened, and Alex flinched at the sight of Evans walking in.


	13. Chapter 13

"Gregory." Chloe greeted the man politely.

Evans didn't respond to her immediately, instead his eyes darted around the room and settled on Maggie's bruised face.

"Detective." He said. "Glad to see you back."

Alex's jaw clenched, but she willed herself to stay calm.

Maggie only nodded in response. " _Sheriff_ Evans."

The tension in the room was thick, but nobody seemed eager to break it. Evans walked towards the desk and leaned down on it with a weak smile. "I'm here to pick up some case files. I'll clean out the office first thing tomorrow."

He stopped, a concerned frown appearing on his face. "The Grant farm… Are you okay, Chloe?"

Alex and Maggie shared an incredulous look.

Chloe nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm – I'll be fine, Greg."

 _Greg._ The name didn't go lost on either woman, but Evans responded before they could say anything.

"Well, you know where to find me if you need something." He reached into a file cabinet and pulled out a few folders, checking the nametags before looking up again. "For what it's worth, I'm glad I could give you a shot at this. If anyone here deserves that Investigator spot, it's you."

"Congratulations on the majority vote, Detective." Maggie finally spoke up. The man glanced towards her, and nodded gratefully.

"I was as surprised as you are. I didn't think anyone would see me wearing that badge."

Alex stepped forward, crossing her arms. "I sincerely hope that you'll work along with us on the Rodas case, and that our cooperation can be _void_ of any malintent."

Evans raised an eyebrow, feigning ignorance. "I can assure you that I want the best for the county and its inhabitants, as I've told you many times before. If there's _anything_ you need, Agent, I'd be happy to provide it."

"We want a warrant." Maggie stepped forward. Alex glanced sideways with a frown as she watched her wife nod. "… Bosley's house. And a sit-down with every deputy."

To their surprise, Evans nodded. "I need to call the governor and get him up to speed with everything, but I'll get you that warrant as soon as possible. To be completely honest, Bosley was always my number one suspect as well. His statement didn't match up with some details on scene."

"How so?" Maggie asked.

"I responded to the call, I did the initial screening of the crime scene when Bosley called it in. Later, he changed some of his statements because he claimed to be 'in shock' at seeing Oscar dead, so he missed some details – according to him, at least. I don't buy it." Another curt not. "I'll get you the warrant. Chloe…"

He reached into a drawer in the desk and pulled out a file. "… This is everything I had so far on the Rodas case. Practically nothing – nobody really made any reports – but you should take another look at it."

He glanced over at Maggie and Alex. "You too, for that matter. See if we can finally nail Bosley down for it. And if you want a talk with the deputies about Oscar, you can start with me. Let me just finish this call to the governor."

Alex nodded, as Evans headed out of the office, closing the door again behind him.

"Something is up with that guy."

Chloe sighed at Maggie's remark. "He's cooperating, Maggie, what more do you want?!"

"Cooperating would actually mean telling the _truth_." The detective responded. "Chloe, if you can't _see_ that he's trying to manipulate you…"

" _Manipulating_?!" The officer shot back. "He's been acting just like he has for as long as I've known him. You can hardly blame him for being annoyed at how you guys are taking over his job."

"Excuse me?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "Do I have to remind you that he actually _knew_ where Maggie was, when she was _abducted_ by two homophobic assholes that beat the _hell_ out of her?!"

Maggie flinched at the words, but she agreed with Alex.

If Chloe really thought that Evans was innocent in all of this, then maybe she wasn't cut out for her promotion at all.

The woman shot up from the desk. "Well, maybe you guys are so hell-bent on having your perfect suspect that you're not seeing what's right in front of you!"

Alex frowned at that.

"… If Evans thinks that Bosley is a person if interest, and _the both of you_ agree with him, then that's a pretty _fucking_ good starting point. If you spend all day trying to nail Greg, then-…"

She was interrupted by her ringtone, and cut herself off to answer it. "Deputy Watson."

Maggie watched as the woman's face changed to a nervous frown.

"O- _okay_. Thank you. I'll be right there."

She disconnected, and looked up. "Bobby Grant is out of surgery. They want me to come to the hospital, but they said it's not looking good."

"We'll start interviewing the officers around here, see if they can tell us something about Oscar or Bosley."

Chloe nodded, reaching for the jacket draped across her chair. "Keep me updated. And… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out. It's just…" She sighed. "The whole Jeremy thing is messing with my head. I think I'll head home after the hospital. But call me if there's an emergency, alright? Or come by, the address is on the card I gave you."

Maggie nodded, as Chloe headed for the door. "You can use my office, as long as you want. Just close the door on your way out."

After that, she stepped out, leaving Maggie and Alex behind.

"So… What strategy are we going with?" Alex asked.

"If the two assailants are Bosley and Evans, then all they're doing is trying to throw one another under the bus. But Evans is in charge, and Bosley is in a cell. If this is all about getting power and being sheriff, then Evans has won." Maggie stated. "So we should try to pin the murders on Bosley in public, but maybe keep the double assailant story out of the books for now, since the only people that know about it are us, Chloe, and the two of them. If we can prove that Evans was at the Rodas house around the time of the murders, we can nail him and he won't even see it coming."

"Alright, so we're doubling down on Bosley." Alex concluded. "He was Oscar's second-in-command, so there had to be a lot of history between the two. He said it himself – they were long friends. Maybe he snapped."

"Or maybe Oscar snapped." Maggie said. "And the guy just defended himself. In any case, most of the people around here should be able to tell us what their relationship was exactly. I'll take Evans as soon as he comes back. You try and see if there's any other deputy around."

Alex nodded, and walked out of the office. Maggie stayed behind, taking a seat at the desk.

Then, a thought struck her.

This was Evans' office for months, if not years.

There _had_ to be dirt in here somewhere.

She shot up from the chair and locked the door of the office, closing the blinds. When she was convinced that nobody would see her, she started opening every drawer and cabinet in the office, checking files, warrants, evidence bags, crime scene photos…

Almost everything was uninteresting. Apart from a large drug lab problem in rural Nebraska, the crimes committed were usually very mundane. Theft, bar fights, the occasional assault case.

She was browsing through files when she came across a familiar name.

 _J. LOCKMAN_

She frowned, and opened the file. There were detailed crime scene photos of the officer lying face-down on the ground in a pool of his own blood, next to the body of a woman that had to be the wife.

Upon seeing the mugshot of the killer, her eyes widened. David Grant, she _knew_ David Grant. Bobby's younger brother.

Somehow, David always seemed like the calmer and more rational one between the two of them.

But if _David_ had shot and killed his wife and Chloe's husband…

Her mind started racing.

Evans had handled the Lockman murder case. He'd ensured that David got life behind bars for the double murder.

But if the only evidence they had was two bodies at the Grant farm…

 _How could Evans have proven that it was David?_

She started browsing through the evidence notes, crime scene descriptions. No eyewitnesses, no _tangible_ evidence except for the fact that the wife had called 911 because her husband was hitting her.

David had even denied shooting anybody, but it was dismissed as a lie to try and save his own ass.

When she turned the page, another photo showed Bobby and David, looking a few years younger, posing in front of a shot deer in hunting gear. Bobby was beaming, but David wasn't smiling at all.

Maggie remembered having conversations with David. Even though his brother was scary, David was fun to hang around with and talk to. Timid and smart, where his brother was loud and angry.

And she vividly remembered that one day, David had told her that he hated guns and shooting. His father and brother both loved it, but he despised killing innocent animals just for sport.

If this _really_ was the same guy, then either something had gone _really_ wrong the night that he snapped and shot two people in the head…

… Or there was more to the story.

And in an instant, all of it clicked.

 _Evans._

If Bobby had been at the farm while his brother was arguing with his wife, and saw that the woman called 911, he could have snapped in anger and shot her. And if Jeremy was there, knowing how much the Grants _hated_ police, he could have killed him too.

And if Evans cut him a deal…

… Then the guy would have easily thrown his brother under the bus.

She'd seen it plenty of times before in her own cases.

The only thing that was still a mystery to her was why Evans would save Bobby.

And if David went to jail in his brother's place, then Evans had a hand above Bobby's head. Because the detective had the power to send him to life in prison within a heartbeat if the guy made a wrong move.

And then, Maggie actually shot out of the seat because _everything made so much sense._

Because if Evans needed to get rid of her, or at least scare her off, then Bobby Grant with all of his hatred for her, would be the perfect candidate.

And Bobby had to do whatever Evans told him to. _Fuck._

Evans really _had_ set all of it up.

She shut the file and picked it up, heading towards the door to find Alex and inform her of her discovery.

As soon as she reached for the doorknob, she heard the unmistakable sound of the key unlocking the door from the outside.


	14. Chapter 14

Instinctively, she threw the file back towards the desk, hoping that it landed on top of it. Just in time, as the door opened, and a frowning Chloe stood in the doorway.

She locked eyes with Maggie. "Hey… Why did you lock the door?"

"… I was doing some research, and I didn't want anybody to walk in." Maggie replied quickly. To be fair, it _was_ the truth.

"Oh, right." Chloe said, walking inside. "Don't worry, I'll get out of your hair. I just forgot something."

Maggie stepped back and let her walk to the desk, feeling the anxiety build up at the sight of the Lockman file, lying on the desk.

She hoped that Chloe was too focused on whatever she needed to see it.

"So, uh… Bobby Grant."

The brunette looked up at Maggie for a second. "Yeah. I hope he's awake so we can get a statement. I doubt he'll say anything beyond 'she had it coming', but well, we can hope."

"Are you going to interview him?" Maggie asked, trying to keep her own gaze away from the file on the desk.

"Your abduction is disconnected from the Rodas case, so I _am_ in charge of it now. Don't worry, Mags, I'm going to make him _pay_ for what he did to you."

 _Same,_ Maggie thought, glancing back at the door where Evans had stood moments ago.

"Anyway." Chloe stepped back from the desk holding a set of keys. "Gotta run. You going to be okay here?"

Maggie nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you in the morning."

The brunette smiled at her, and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm glad you're okay. You have _no_ idea how worried I was."

Maggie returned the hug. "Thank you for coming for me. From what I heard, you did amazing."

"I couldn't have done it without Alex." Chloe shook her head. "She's the amazing one. I'm glad you two found each other."

"Good night." Maggie said, as the brunette walked out of the office.

The detective sighed in relief, before she turned towards the desk.

And noticed that the Lockman file was flipped around.

Her stomach sank.

Chloe hadn't said anything, or even looked like something was bothering her. But it was obvious that the woman _had_ seen the file.

 _Damn it._

She heard Chloe's voice in the hallway, greeting somebody. A few seconds later, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Maggie said.

The door opened once again, and Evans stood in the doorway, raising an eyebrow. "This a bad time?"

"No, you're fine. Come on in."

 _Nail Bosley, get evidence on Evans._

Should be easy enough.

"Take a seat, Detective." Maggie motioned to the chairs facing the desk, reaching for a notepad and a pen.

* * *

Alex headed for the break room for a cup of coffee as soon as she left the office upstairs. As she fiddled with the coffee machine and scanned the cupboards for a mug, she saw a shape in her peripheral vision.

She turned her head to see a man handing her a mug with an amused expression. "They're in the cabinet next to the fridge."

"Thanks." Alex laughed, as she put the mug underneath the machine, and turned it on.

"You're the FBI agent, right?" He asked.

Alex nodded, glancing around in search of sugar. The man noticed, and pointed towards a bowl on the table.

"Detective Sawyer told me about your background."

"My _background_." Alex repeated with an amused frown, taking the mug filled with coffee towards the table.

The man reached for another mug and filled the water boiler, turning it on. "She told me that you're a bioengineer."

Alex tried to contain her sigh of relief. "Yes, I am. I'm a field agent, but split my time between the lab as well."

"I studied biochemistry for two years before I went to the academy." The man said, reaching out his hand. "Thomas Collins."

"Alex Danvers." She shook his hand, smiling. "Nice to see another scientist in the sea of cops."

Collins chuckled, reaching for a packet of teabags and fishing one out to put in his mug. "I read an article yesterday about nanotechnology. Apparently some scientists are working on reactivating areas of the brain that are damaged after trauma – did you see that?"

"I know some of the people working on it." Alex nodded enthusiastically. "… They're booking lots of results – they managed to re-activate the language center a few weeks ago. Nanobot technology, completely controllable and safe."

"That's _amazing_." Collins shook his head in disbelief. "So, what do _you_ work on in that lab of yours?"

"Mainly applications of biotechnology out in the field."

He filled his mug up with the now boiling water, and joined Alex at the table. "Weapons."

"Not necessarily. Medical applications, trackers, combat gear… Things to make it safer for agents to get out in the field and fight."

" _Fight_. I like that." He laughed. "You sound more like a soldier than a federal agent."

"Sometimes, I _feel_ more like a soldier too." Alex admitted. "What about you? Why did you quit?"

"Oh, I come from a family of cops. I wanted to become a CSI initially, study forensic science after a few years of biochem – turns out they need cops here more than someone analyzing fingerprints. I don't regret it, though. We're doing good for the people around here."

"What did you think of Oscar as a sheriff?" Alex asked, feeling like this was the right time to breach into the topic. The guy seemed to know what he was talking about, and he didn't look afraid to speak his mind.

"I was good friends with him." He sighed. "He wasn't the easiest sometimes – he was very forward when he believed in something. Some people didn't exactly like that. But I'm very grateful to him." He pointed to his head, hair tied back in a tight bun. "… Other sheriffs would force me to cut it, but he made an exception for me. I know that seems stupid, but it meant a lot to me."

"Can you think of somebody who would do something like this? Someone he had a disagreement with?"

"Well…" Collins leaned forward slightly. "If you ask me, I'm not all that sure about Bosley. I know you have him in custody, but…" He shrugged. "I don't know, somehow it seems a bit too easy. Would the guy that killed him really find the bodies? And if he _did_ , he'd have a pretty air-tight story figured out, right? There were a lot of holes in his story."

Alex nodded slowly. She hadn't been a fan of the Bosley theory, but Maggie seemed to want to bet on it, so she followed her wife's instincts. But now that she heard everything lined up – it _did_ seem a bit too easy.

"Then what do you think?"

"I know _one_ thing." Collins said, raising his mug. "Watson has been on Oscar's doorstep ever since Jeremy was shot dead. Pleading for more patrol, more manpower… And listen – I have nothing against her. I think what happened to Jeremy was absolutely outrageous, and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone… But it kind of became a _joke_ over the months. She'd been setting up financial plans, ways to get more partners on patrol with the same budget… She was relentless."

"How is that funny?" Alex asked.

"Well, it wasn't _funny_." Collins shook his head. "Just… Everyone knew that it was a situation none of us could change. Eventually people kind of started to grow tired of her constant complaining and asking for change. This police corps has been patrolling solo for 150 years."

"So… you think that there could be more there?"

"I'm not a detective." Collins frowned. "And I don't want to make assumptions either. But my gut says that Chloe isn't as innocent as she's playing now. Ever since Jeremy's been gone, she's been acting different. It made her bitter. All I'm saying is that it wouldn't surprise me if Chloe was done asking Oscar nicely."

Alex nodded slowly. Truth be told, she'd been wary of Chloe ever since the beginning. Something about the officer had rubbed her the wrong way. Seeing the way she talked to Maggie, how much Maggie had latched onto her, seeing the friend she'd had all those years ago…

If Chloe really was dangerous, then they needed to switch tactics, and fast.

But Maggie would never see it – she'd refuse to believe that Chloe was guilty.

Officer Collins seemed to notice the battle going on in her head, because he cleared his throat and took a sip of his tea. "Yeah, I wouldn't go shouting it from the rooftops either. If you really think that somebody here in the police force had something to do with it, I'd start with their motive."

"What about Evans? According to the crime scene, there were two people present at the time of the murders."

"Yeah, Bosley whispered me something about Evans this morning. Apparently Gregory left his shift Saturday night and said that he was going to stop at Oscar's house to talk about a case. Bosley seems to think that Evans had something to do with it."

"And what do you think?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe they were in on it together? Watson and Gregory have been looking close ever since Jeremy died. There's a bet going around about when they're finally going to make things official."

"And?"

"And what?" Collins chuckled. "You want to pitch in? Nah, it's just gossip. I don't believe rumors, and what happens between the two of them is none of my business anyway."

Alex nodded. That was a _whole_ lot of new information. And things were making a lot more sense now. "Chloe said that Evans got a majority vote for sheriff, but that she voted blank. Evans turns out to be the winner, and promotes Chloe to Investigator the second he has the power."

Collins shook his head. "I bet he started accusing Bosley the first chance he got. Don't get me wrong – Adam Bosley is a _horrible_ person and didn't deserve Oscar's badge. But Evans is a power junkie, and he'll do whatever he can to keep that badge now that he has it. No matter what it takes, or who he throws under the bus."

Alex nodded, finishing the last of her coffee and putting her mug down. "Thanks for your time, Officer Collins."

"No problem." He laughed. "Maybe if you have some time in the near future, we can talk some more about those bio-upgrades you're working on."

"I'd like that." Alex smiled, and put her mug in the sink before leaving the break room, heading upstairs.

The man's words had actually made a _lot_ of sense. The body language that Chloe and Evans had given off during their brief interaction in the office earlier made it seem like there was something more going on.

But she also knew that Maggie would _never_ believe that Chloe was her parents' murderer.

She needed evidence. Proof.

Because the list of possible suspects was starting to grow, and they needed to handle it fast, before the word got out.

Evans seemed to be the common denominator in all of the stories. It should be pretty easy to pin him at the crime scene. Maybe if she had something over his head, she could make him spill about who his companion was.

And whether _he_ was the one that killed them, or if he was standing to the side and watching.

All without arresting or incapacitating him.

 _Should be a breeze_ , she huffed to herself.

In the upper floor hallway, she ran into the man, who nodded at her.

Alex willed herself to nod back and move along, assuming that he had just talked to Maggie.

Maybe her wife had more information.

Maybe they could solve the puzzle together.

"Hey." She said as she knocked on the open door to the investigator's office.

Maggie was sat at the desk, finishing up her notes with a frown. Alex closed the door and locked it behind them, noticing that the blinds were already down.

"So?" She pried, watching Maggie lean back in the chair.

"He wants to cooperate fully, but I couldn't ask him too many in-depth questions. He told me that he and Oscar were good friends, that he _did_ go to Oscar's house Saturday evening to discuss a case he'd received that day. When he left the house, Katherine was just heading upstairs to go to bed, so he figured the killers couldn't have been too far behind him, but he didn't see anything."

"Why wasn't that in _any_ report?!" Alex shot back. "He was the last person to see the both of them alive!"

"He was in charge of the investigation." Maggie shrugged. "It happens all the time. I only write my own eyewitness reports after the perp is caught - you don't want to waste precious time sitting at your desk and writing what you already know. There's time for that later. He gave a lot of details, we had a good talk."

"A _good talk_." Alex raised an eyebrow. "Those aren't the words I'd use."

"You know what I mean." Maggie huffed. "He was telling the truth about being in the house, the things he said matched the things I saw at the crime scene."

"The fact that he proves that he was at the crime scene isn't exactly something to be proud of. Mags, doesn't that make him even _more_ suspicious?!"

"I'm not saying he's innocent." Maggie said quickly. "… But why would he go out of his way to describe that he was there that night and left early when he could deny being there completely? Perps don't take _that_ kind of risk unless they're telling the truth. Maybe he was there, maybe he saw something that he's not telling us, but I don't think he killed them."

"Is your _gut_ _feeling_ telling you that?" Alex scoffed.

Maggie frowned at Alex's sarcastic response. "What are you talking about?"

"There's an _overwhelming_ amount of reasons why I don't trust the guy at all. You even said yourself that you thought Evans was manipulating Chloe. So I honestly don't see why you would sit there and nod through all of his lies and _defend_ the guy."

"I'm not _defending_ anybody." Maggie corrected. "I'm looking at facts. He proved to me that he was at that house on Saturday night and Bosley said the same thing. I honestly don't get what kind of psychological game Evans would try to be playing by telling me that."

"I had a talk with one of the officers downstairs." Alex said. "He told me some interesting things too."

Maggie waited patiently for Alex to elaborate.

"He said that Chloe has motive. And I put some pieces together – it's possible that Chloe and Evans worked together. Chloe complained constantly to Oscar about having more cops on duty, and Evans led the investigation on Lockman."

Alex braced herself for Maggie's protests and ridiculous scoffs.

She didn't expect the frown appearing on her wife's face, practically hearing the gears turning behind her eyes.

"Evans messed with the Lockman case." Maggie said. "I think he arrested David Grant for the double murder, but it should have been Bobby. Bobby's the real killer, but Evans must have cut him a deal."

Alex blinked slowly. "Does Chloe know?"

"I think the answer to that would make or break your theory."

The agent took a moment to think it through. "Chloe was with you at the crime scene, right? She knew the things you were focusing on – she could have easily passed that on to Evans. And she's been close to us, hearing every theory we had… Mags, she could have even told Evans _herself_ about the wedding photos."

Maggie clenched her eyes shut, dropping back down into the chair, starting to see what she couldn't accept.

"I…" She tried, but she cut herself off again.

But then, she remembered.

The autopsy.

The ME had found long, brown hairs on both bodies.

" _Jesus Christ_ …" She whispered.

 _Had it been Chloe all along...?_


	15. Chapter 15

_Where do we go from here?_

The only question lingering inside Maggie's mind, as she stared numbly at the desk in front of her. The Lockman case file still on top, almost taunting her.

If she could find any fault in the case, maybe she could get it reopened, and get an innocent man out of jail.

And lock up the man responsible.

For some reason, Chloe shooting Bobby felt like justice. And a part of her actually hoped he was dead, so that she had the vengeance she deserved.

But with everything now, hearing that Chloe was headed to the hospital to get information on Bobby made her skin crawl.

She decided to reach for her phone and call. Alex watched with a frown, but Maggie silently tilted the case file in her direction. Alex understood the hint, and opened the folder, scanning it.

A fresh pair of eyes that she could trust was a luxury right now – she had to use it.

After a few seconds, a click indicated that Chloe had answered.

" _Hey, Mags, this is kind of a bad time…_ "

"Oh, right." Maggie hesitated. "… I just wanted to know what the update on Bobby Grant was."

" _He died_." Chloe responded. " _Complications of the surgery. I have to fill out a ton of paperwork. What about you? Any luck with Evans?_ "

"Yeah, I think we're getting somewhere." Maggie said, watching as Alex straightened, focusing on something in the file. It raised a few questions in her mind, but she focused on the phone conversation for now. "… Be careful, alright? I might drop by later with some booze, if you're interested."

It was an impulsive decision, and she willfully ignored Alex's questioning look, but she hoped it would pay off.

A weak chuckle was the reply. " _I'd love that. You still remember my poison?_ "

"Vodka soda, how could I ever forget."

" _Great_." Chloe laughed. " _Looks like I'll be home within the hour, so drop by after ten!_ "

After saying goodbye, Maggie put away her phone and took a deep breath. "Right. Bobby Grant died in the hospital, but she's filling out paperwork. We have less than an hour."

"To do _what_ , exactly?" Alex frowned. "Go to the store and get vodka?!"

Maggie huffed. "To take a look around her house, obviously. She lives about ten minutes away by car, we can get a proper look around and leave again without her even noticing."

As much as Alex hated breaking and entering into someone's house, she hadn't seen Maggie's technique coming. And the fact that Chloe gave her a window of time for an unattended house was _extremely_ well played from the detective's part.

As if she wasn't in love with Maggie enough as it was – seeing the woman excel at her job only made her respect and adoration grow.

"Let's go."

Alex followed Maggie out the door without a second thought.

* * *

On the way over, Alex called into the bureaucratic chaos that was the Lincoln police department, trying to get more info on the hair found at the scene, after Maggie had mentioned it being another clue.

But currently, the woman on the other end of the line was trying her _very_ best to destroy the little patience Alex had left after an entire day of stress and emotions.

"I am _not_ a detective. I am Special Agent Alexandra Danvers of the FBI STB, and I'm not asking you to disclose _anything_." She sighed. "I'm asking you whether or not you have already begun analyzing the hairs that were found on the crime scene, or not. Simple yes or no question, madam – I can give you my security codes, but I doubt you'll be able to verify them, so _please_ just let me continue my investigation and give me what I need."

Maggie could barely contain the exhausted smile on her face from listening to Alex trying to bullshit her way into getting the information. Most of what she said was true though – they had no time left today to go up to Lincoln and meet with anyone over the forensics. That'd have to wait until tomorrow.

And that was time they didn't have.

Another exasperated sigh. "Okay, then, I'm going to need to speak to your boss… What do you _mean_ he's out?! _Yes_ , I know what time it is!"

Maggie gently put a hand on Alex's thigh. The agent's head snapped up and met her wife's eyes, nodding quietly.

"Look, ma'am, I'm sorry. I'm tired, it's been a long day. If you could just call me back whenever you have something, so I can make my way over to the lab, that would be great… Yes, okay. Thank you, have a good night."

Maggie turned the wheel, as they parked on the street next to a small, cozy house. It looked pretty old, but still had a warm and charming look.

Alex threw open her door and frowned, glancing sideways. "How do you want to get in? We don't know if she has an alarm, or…"

"She doesn't. We drove past here on our way to the crime scene earlier." Maggie replied.

 _God_ , that felt like ages ago, but it had just been a few hours.

"Here." Alex tossed her another set of gloves from a box in the glove compartment, and smirked. "I figured we'd be needing more of these, so I swiped a box from the police station."

"My, my, Agent Danvers." Maggie chuckled. "Petty theft, I could get you in a jail for that."

"It'll be our little secret." Alex winked at her, but then grew serious. "How are we going to get in?"

Maggie hummed. "You check the neighboring houses. It's late, so some of them will be at home, keep an eye out."

Alex nodded, and looked around the street. A few lights were on in surrounding houses, but she couldn't see any faces through the windows, staring at them. It was too dark out to see anything else.

She glanced back to see Maggie reaching around the front door, underneath the doormat and in the nearby plants. "What are you doing?!"

"Watering the roses, what the hell does it _look_ like I'm doing?!" Maggie shot back sarcastically, before her frown turned into a gleeful smirk. "Gotcha!"

She pulled her arm out of a small potted plant, holding a silver key.

"Chloe always got into trouble for leaving her keys where people could find them." She said, before turning the key in the lock of the front door, and opening it. "You coming?"

Alex nodded slowly, still keeping an eye out for the neighbors as she slipped into the house, closing the door behind her.

The hallway they were standing in was small, and Maggie reached for her phone to activate her flashlight. "No lights, the neighbors could see."

Alex nodded, reaching for her own phone. "What are we looking for exactly?"

Maggie took a deep breath. "Anything that shows that she had something against Oscar, that connects her to Evans, or that proves she was out at the time of the murders."

They split ways – Alex headed to the left into the living room, and Maggie went for the kitchen. Despite how cozy it probably was, the dark gave the rooms a dark and mysterious atmosphere that Alex didn't want to think about.

She browsed through drawers, magazines and cupboards, but found nothing interesting. It looked like Chloe was a neat and clean person. Not a speck of dust to be seen, and for not having been in the house for two days, it still looked _lived_ enough.

There was no way to describe it, but it _really_ felt like someone had been here not too long ago.

Alex racked her brain, trying to think of when Chloe could have gone home in the past day. There were a couple of holes that she or Maggie hadn't seen the woman, but those weren't nearly long enough for her to drive all the way back home.

Unless the patrolling had been a lie.

Maggie appeared in the living room from a door in the back. "Anything here?"

Alex looked around with a frown. "I feel like someone's been here."

"Yeah, I know." Maggie nodded her head back towards the kitchen. "There's food on the counter that's still warm – couldn't have been more than an hour."

"The police station is ten minutes away, could she really have come home to eat _that_ fast?"

Maggie shrugged. "Nothing else in the kitchen that looks odd."

Alex watched as Maggie moved towards a desk in the corner of the living room, a laptop on top. "Did you check this yet?"

The agent shook her head. "Wanted to save it for last, be my guest though. I'll take a look around the other rooms."

After that, she walked out of the living room and headed back into the hallway, opening a random door to reveal a storage. She scanned through it pretty quickly, mostly seeing tin cans of food.

Something that grabbed her attention was a bag of dog food on the floor. She hadn't seen any evidence that Chloe had a dog, or hadn't even heard anything _bark_ for that matter.

Her mind argued that Chloe could have _had_ a dog and hadn't thrown out the food yet.

But something in the back of her head told her that it had something to do with Hunter.

She moved down the shelf quickly, seeing nothing else around that she deemed noteworthy.

" _Alex_!" She heard Maggie's yell from the living room. "I think I have something!"

Alex looked up and walked out of the cupboard and into the hallway, when she heard a sound that made her stomach drop.

A key unlocking the front door.

Instinctively, she jumped out of the hallway and back into the storage room, leaving the door ajar and moving to stand behind it, in case Chloe peeked inside.

She _prayed_ feverishly that Maggie had heard the sound too, and had reacted accordingly.

If Chloe really was a murderer, then she wouldn't hesitate to kill either of them if she realized that they were onto her.

The front door closed, and the light in the hallway switched on.

But the sigh that came out of the person's mouth sounded heavy. Familiar, but much more masculine than Chloe's.

The man took off his shoes, just as there was a knock on the door.

Alex held her breath when the door opened once again, this time from the inside.

" _I saw you pull up, right on time. You have to be out before ten though, Maggie comes around at ten._ "

Chloe's voice.

Alex moved forward and bit the back of her hand to keep from breathing too heavily, her other hand caressing the grip of her gun as she moved forward, trying to get a glimpse of whoever she was with.

Though, if their detective work had been correct, she already had a pretty good feeling of who the mystery man could be.

" _We should celebrate your promotion_!" Chloe continued. " _Pop a bottle of champagne, I might still have one in the cupboard…_ "

Alex froze as the woman's footsteps came closer, realizing that she was going to get caught in a second. Her mind started racing with excuses, apologies, and she even considered dropping down and pretending to be unconscious for a brief moment.

" _I don't really feel like celebrating_." The man's voice now sounded through the house for the first time.

Alex didn't need the visual anymore.

She _knew_ that it was Evans.

" _What are you talking about_?!" Was Chloe's indignant response. " _You're the sheriff! That calls for celebration!_ "

" _Babe_." He replied. " _Oscar is dead. Celebrating this would feel like dancing on his grave. Don't get me wrong – I'm glad you got Bosley out of the way for me, but this doesn't feel right. At all._ "

Alex scoffed silently, realizing that maybe Chloe's vote hadn't been blank after all.

She hoped that Maggie was hearing this too.

" _Well, we can celebrate once all of this is over._ " Chloe continued quickly. " _Come on, we've got 30 minutes until Maggie's here. Let's make the most of it_."

The unmistakable sound of kissing, and Alex clenched her eyes shut, her brain working overtime to figure out what all of this meant.

And how the hell either of them were getting out of the house without the two cops noticing.

A door closed, and the voices now sounded muffled. From what she could hear, they'd gone into the living room.

Alex quietly sneaked out of the storage room, pressing herself up against the staircase in the hallway in case either of them came back.

The door to the kitchen opened, and Alex's heart jumped, fearing for a second that she'd been caught. But instead, Maggie was crouched down, and slowly making her way into the hallway, a finger pressed against her mouth to keep the agent quiet.

Alex mouthed a ' _how_?' to her, and Maggie winced, shaking her head.

 _No idea._

Opening the front door and running out could get them far away enough before Chloe or Evans realized what was happening. But if Alex was in their shoes, it wouldn't take her long to figure out who had been behind it – so she didn't want to take the risk.

Instead, she motioned for Maggie to stay near the foot of the stairs, as she inched closer towards the door to the living room.

If she had probable cause, if they _talked about_ _the murders_ … Maybe both she and Maggie could come in guns drawn, and have them arrested before they could even do anything about it.

"… _have to figure out what to do, first._ _Bobby's dead, Greg. I shot him._ "

" _You defended yourself. I'm glad it's you and not him, you said he was armed._ "

" _He was. But he was shooting at that Agent, not at me. I could have stayed out of it, could have let him shoot her and pretend I didn't see any of it, but… That's not why I joined the force._ "

" _I know_." Evans' reply sounded tender and loving. " _We're going to fix it. We're going to fix everything. I can make it all go away, but you need to give me more time_."

Chloe sighed. " _Maggie and her wife are onto something. They've been at your throat ever since they saw you. Greg, why the hell did you tell her where Maggie was?! You knew that was only going to make you more suspicious!_ "

" _You don't understand, Chlo. Just let me handle things, and keep them on Bosley's trail. I need more time._ "

" _I've given you plenty of fucking time – all you have done is set up some kidnapping scheme that you know I hated. I honestly don't understand why you're not telling me what's going on. Do you not love me?!_ "

" _Of course I love you. But… Things are complicated right now."_

" _You know who killed them, don't you?!_ " Chloe's icy voice said.

Alex's stomach dropped.

"… _I don't want you caught up in this._ " Was Evans' response. " _… I'll explain everything as soon as I can, I swear..._ "

" _You fucking told me you had nothing to do with it!_ " Chloe yelled. " _You promised me! Greg, what the fuck did you do?!_ "

" _Shut up!_ " He screamed. Alex glanced back to where Maggie was frowning at her questioningly.

There was a long pause, before Chloe took a shaky breath. " _Get out. Maggie's probably on her way, I don't want her to see you._ "

" _Should I come back after, or…_ "

" _Just go. We'll see each other in the morning_."

As footsteps approached the door Alex was currently behind, she dove out of the way, rolling backwards, before being yanked back by Maggie, who shoved her back into the storage room, and closed the door behind them.

As many more questions as it raised, Alex was finally starting to see the bigger picture.

And her mind already conjured up a plan on how to close the case by tonight.


	16. Chapter 16

The first thing they had to figure out was how to get Maggie at the front door without Chloe noticing her sneaking out of the house.

"Have you ever been inside here before?" Alex whispered right next to Maggie's ear. The detective shook her head.

Alex's mind raced. Chloe was in the living room, waiting for Maggie to arrive. It wasn't cold outside, but not hot enough to leave windows open. And she hadn't seen any open windows upon arriving at the house.

Which left them with virtually no escape options.

Suddenly, Maggie grabbed Alex by the shoulders and leaned forward to whisper in her ear too. "If something else is loud enough, she won't hear the front door opening."

"Like what?" Alex shot back. "The fire alarm?"

Maggie shook her head. "That might draw attention. Just… get to the door, open it when you hear the noise. Wait for me outside."

Alex nodded and crouched down. Maggie glanced around the shelves, and grabbed a random tin can, and a bottle of vodka.

After that, she crawled down on the floor towards the door to the kitchen, and glanced through the small crack. The vague sound of the television in the living room made her confirm that Chloe wasn't in the kitchen, and she slowly opened the door.

It wasn't the best plan, but the timeframe and options were limited.

She aimed, and chucked the can towards a shelf with glass jars and bottles filled with spices.

A victorious smirk appeared as the can hit its mark perfectly, sending three jars crashing down to the ground with an enormous clattering.

She didn't bother waiting around for Chloe, instead turning around to see Alex already halfway out the door, and running after her, closing the door as quietly as possible, and stopping to crouch down behind their parked truck.

" _That_ was your masterplan?!" Alex shook her head. " _Breaking_ something and running away?!"

Maggie laughed weakly through her panting. "Didn't exactly see Agent Danvers getting creative."

Alex opened her mouth to reply, but Maggie cut her off. "I have to go, now. I've got a plan. Wait for me to get inside, then take the truck and drive back to the hotel. Come back at eleven, if I'm not out of the house ten minutes after that, call for help."

Alex was just about to ask her who exactly she had in mind, since they couldn't exactly trust anyone within the police department, but Maggie was already running towards the front door with the vodka bottle clutched in her hands.

It didn't take long for Chloe to throw the door open, gun in hand and looking extremely suspicious. Maggie frowned at the weapon, feigning ignorance. "Uh… Chloe? Everything alright?"

Chloe glanced around behind Maggie's ear, looking up and down the street, but then clearing her throat and shaking her head. "Yeah, don't worry. Come in."

Maggie stepped inside, and closed the door. "I brought vodka, I hope you have soda?"

"There's some in the fridge. But, don't go in the kitchen, it's a mess." Chloe chuckled nervously. "A jar slipped out of my hand and fell, I have to clean up the glass first."

"It's the case, isn't it?" Maggie sighed as she put the bottle down onto the coffee table in the living room and flopped down onto the sofa. "It's getting to you, I can see it."

"Well, I shouldn't be the one complaining." Chloe said quickly, shaking her head. "How are _you_ doing, Mags? With everything… I can't even imagine."

 _I bet you can._

But Chloe's statement _had_ given her an idea. She filed it away for now, though, going for the casual attempt first. "I'll be happy once that asshole is behind bars."

"Bosley _is_ behind bars, right? You put him there." Chloe raised an eyebrow.

Maggie realized that she'd made a mistake, and sighed, trying to play it off. "I know. But there's still someone else out there, his companion, whoever it is."

Chloe headed into the kitchen, and Maggie got up to follow her, raising her eyebrows at the sight and chuckling weakly. "Looks like that's a _handful_ of jars you dropped there, not just one."

She crouched down to help Chloe pick up glass, and only now noticed how much the brunette's hands were shaking.

Despite Alex being closer to the earlier conversation between Chloe and Evans, she _had_ picked up most of it too. And Chloe's accusation had sounded completely genuine. She sounded absolutely broken at the thought of Evans having something to do with the murders.

Maggie honestly believed that Chloe wasn't part of anything involving the murders.

Except for the kidnapping.

And that was exactly what Maggie was currently aiming for. She was going to play in to Chloe's emotions, use some tricks she picked up during her times undercover, and get _everything_ out of the woman.

After all… _they were friends._

"Chloe, you're shaking." She said, a concerned frown plastered on her face. "Hey, why don't you take a seat? I'll clean this up. It's no problem, I promise you."

Chloe sniffed shaking her head. "No, I mean… You don't have to… I made the mess, you don't have to clean anything…"

" _Chloe_." Maggie insisted. "Go sit down. You need a drink. And you don't have to tell me _anything_ if you don't want to talk, but I want to be here for you."

The brunette gave in quicker than Maggie thought, nodding slowly and getting up from her knees before disappearing into the living room.

Maggie cleaned up the rest of the glass, sweeping the remainder of the spices into the bin, and preparing two glasses.

One with a vodka soda, and one with just soda.

She needed to stay sober for this.

Carrying the two nearly identical glasses into the living room, she placed both of them down onto the coffee table and looked at the woman sitting down on the sofa.

To be fair, Chloe _did_ look like she was ready to break. And taking advantage of that made Maggie feel slightly guilty.

But she deserved to know the truth, after the hellish day she'd had.

So as she leaned back to take a seat on the sofa, she hissed loudly. Chloe's head shot up at the sound, her eyes wide with concern. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine." Maggie said quickly. "Just a bit dizzy."

Those four words did little to ease the worry in the woman's eyes. "Mags, you have a concussion, you _really_ should go to bed soon and get some rest."

"I know. It's been a long day." She chuckled weakly. "My entire face feels like it's on fire every time I move or talk."

A whirlwind of emotions seemed to pass by on Chloe's face, before she took a shaky breath. "I'm really sorry, Mags."

"Don't be." Maggie frowned. "You didn't do anything. You _helped_ Alex get me back, that's all that matters."

 _There._ The seed of guilt was planted.

Now all she had to do was wait for it to grow.

"Mags… There's something I have to tell you."

 _Oh._

She had't expected it to grow _that_ soon.

She settled on nodding slowly, and turning her body to face Chloe completely.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but you need to know…" The woman took a deep breath. "… When Oscar heard that you and I went to the academy together, we had a lot of talks about you. He wanted to get to know you, through the stories I told, through the things you and I had done together. It made him feel like he _knew_ you, you know?"

Maggie felt her stomach clench, as she had a feeling she knew where Chloe was going with her explanation.

"And he told me that he wanted the best for you when he made you leave Blue Springs behind. Your aunt lived in Lincoln, and people were far more open-minded there about gay people. He wanted you to have a _life_ , not constantly being afraid of what people might do to you for being the way you are."

"You honestly expect me to believe that?" Maggie whispered hollowly. "That he _hit_ me, threw me out of the house with a suitcase and told me to _fuck off_ because he _loved_ me?!"

"Katherine didn't-…"

"My mother _watched_!" Maggie yelled. "Stood there and _watched_ as he threw me out, she didn't do _anything_! She _should_ have _done_ something-…" Her voice broke on the last part, but she bit her tongue, trying to keep the tears inside.

Chloe seemed to get emotional too. "Katherine never forgave him for it. She was going to file for a divorce, and go to Lincoln to get you back. But he explained that _you_ would have never been happy in Blue Springs, and that he wasn't proud of what he did, but that he knew that it _had_ to be done."

Maggie stayed silent – though she wanted to scream, yell and cry, she did nothing but stare ahead at the glasses on the coffee table.

"Anyway. You deserve to know. Believe what you will, ignore everything you just heard, it's fine. But I didn't want to keep it from you." Chloe looked down. "What happened to you with the Grants… that was everything that Oscar _didn't_ want for you. He was proud of you for being yourself."

Maggie shook her head. She'd never know if what Chloe told her was the truth. But it didn't matter.

She wanted to get out of Blue Springs as fast as possible.

"I haven't even done anything for the funerals yet." She whispered.

"I'll help." Chloe offered. "Anything I can do to get you through this."

"They were catholic. I need to get to the church tomorrow and talk to the priest." Maggie trailed off, getting up.

Chloe's explanation had thrown her off her plan completely, but she was trying to get her footing back. "There was a file on your desk earlier. I'm sorry that I looked at it, it was none of my business."

"Jeremy's murder." Chloe nodded quietly. "It's fine – it's all public record anyway. Small town, no secrets."

Maggie huffed silently at those words, but continued. "I read the entire thing."

Chloe's back straightened, though she tried to play it off. "And?"

"… Well, Bobby said some things to me in the barn."

Maggie braced herself, and studied every feature of Chloe's for the woman's response. But instead of any micro-expression of anxiety or stress, the woman just seemed confused. "What kind of things?"

"He said things about David. About Jeremy too. Things that don't match up with what's in the file."

Maggie knew that she was playing with fire, but there was no other way. She _had_ to take the risk in order for Chloe to take the bait.

Chloe took a shaky breath. "Maggie, just tell me what the hell is going on, _please_."

Either the woman was a _damn_ good actress, or she genuinely had no idea what Maggie was talking about.

"Bobby was the one who shot Jeremy, and he pinned it on David."

Chloe opened and closed her mouth a few times, and Maggie once again studied her intensely.

But her gut feeling told her that Chloe hadn't known anything.

"Oh… _god_." The woman stuttered. "H-how?!"

"Bobby hated police, he shot Jeremy, and cut a deal with-…" Maggie cut herself off quickly, cursing herself.

 _Shit._

She had meant to keep Evans out of it completely, because she didn't know what Chloe knew.

The slip of the tongue hadn't been lost on the brunette though, as she shot up with wide eyes. "Evans? Gregory cut him a deal?!"

"That's what he said." Maggie swallowed thickly. "Evans pinned everything on David, and in return Bobby owed him. For what, I don't know. He might have cashed in his favor already."

Maggie hoped fervently that Chloe was innocent, because she just showed her entire hand in search for an ally.

And if that hand was taken away from her…

Instead, Chloe dropped back down onto the couch, burying her face in her hands before looking up to meet Maggie's eyes.

"… I think Evans killed your parents, Maggie."


	17. Chapter 17

Maggie's heart stopped. "What… What makes you say that?"

If the overheard conversation was any indication, Chloe was very much in love with Evans.

 _Why would she betray him like that?_

The brunette took a shaky breath. "He's been… Acting weird. Ever since Saturday."

Maggie knew that she could pry and ask Chloe about the nature of her relationship with the man, but she chose to ignore it for now. "So he and Bosley did it together."

Instead of responding, Chloe growled and got up, running a hand throug her hair. "All of this is… _fucked_ _up_ , Maggie. I… I don't know anything anymore."

Maggie sighed. "Chloe, look at me."

The woman turned around slowly to face her again, an uncertain look plastered on her face.

Maggie spoke slowly and softly, but the urgency in her words was clear. "I know that something is going on here. I know that everybody has reasons to throw every other person under the bus. And I _know_ that you know more than you're telling me. And you can have every reason in the world not to tell me, but I need to know. I need the _big picture_ , Chloe. And I keep on getting caught up in secrets and manipulations. It needs to stop. Now."

Chloe nodded slowly. "Just… Promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"You find out who killed them, whatever it takes. But whatever you learn along the way, you leave it alone." The woman said. "You go back to National City and _forget_ about us."

Maggie nodded sincerely. "I promise, Chloe."

The brunette crossed her arms, remaining upright as she stared at a fixed spot in front of her. "Me and Evans have been in a relationship for a few months now. Nobody knows."

Maggie realized then that she had to pretend like this was a big reveal of information, but her reaction was too delayed to look convincing. Chloe chuckled. "Guess I underestimated your detective skills. How did you find out?"

"I… recognized a look he gave you at the police station. Alex looks at me like that too."

A quick lie, but it seemed to do the trick, as Chloe nodded. "… Jeremy was his best friend. We kind of mourned together, and it brought us closer… Jeremy used to laugh that if we hadn't married, Gregory'd have put a ring on me a long time ago."

Maggie processed, but remained silent, watching as her friend grew serious again. "I knew that Oscar was growing tired of my constant nagging for change, he couldn't change _anything_ , as much as he wanted to. But Gregory… He understood. He helped me. And he promised me that he'd talk to Oscar after his hours, at his house. To convince him to take a look at the financial plan I prepared."

"Saturday?" Maggie guessed.

Chloe nodded weakly. "… He called me on the way over, told me that it wouldn't take long. When he came back, he was _shaking_. I figured he and Oscar had gotten in an argument, or something… But when we heard about the bodies… He _swore_ that he left before it happened, and that he didn't see anything."

"Then what makes you think that he had something to do with it?"

Chloe took a step forward, closer to Maggie. "Bobby told you that Evans messed with Jeremy's murder."

"And you didn't know anything about it?"

Chloe shook her head. "We _never_ talk about Jeremy's case anymore."

"Chloe, I _know_ David. I grew up with Bobby and David, and believe me – David is no murderer. His brother was a bully, a sadist and an _asshole_ , but David was a genuine good guy. So _think_. Why would Evans cover up the murder case of his best friend?"

"Either he needed Bobby for something, or he wanted David out of the way." Chloe whispered. "… But neither makes sense for me."

"Or what if it was the other way around?" Maggie said. "What if Bobby had something on Evans, and he threatened him with it."

Chloe stayed silent, thinking. But Maggie started puzzling pieces together. "Why did you hammer down on Bosley? Did you want us to take him out of the picture?"

"I… Just assumed. Bosley has wanted to be sheriff for ages now, everyone knows that. He has a key… The evidence was there."

"We don't assume in our line of work, that's the first thing they teach at the police academy." Maggie narrowed her eyes. "It's not good enough, Chloe. I need the truth."

The woman sighed. "I'm trying, Mags. I put all of the pieces together, and it brought me to Bosley, just like you and Alex."

"There's no evidence, because the forensics team that was supposed to analyze the scene _tampered_ with it. Someone's trying _really_ hard to keep us from getting answers. And if you're not going to help me, then I can just as easily take you in as a suspect."

Chloe shook her head. "There's no need for tough bullshit, Maggie. I want to help you."

" _Why_?" Maggie frowned. "If you love Evans, why aren't you protecting him? I don't _get_ this. _None_ of this makes sense!"

"Maggie." Chloe took a deep breath. "I know that you've been on Gregory's tail ever since the beginning. Ever since he called you out and played tough. I _hated_ what he did, with your wedding photos. And I…" She sighed. "… I hated what happened at the Grant farm."

"You knew." Maggie said.

Chloe glanced down, a shameful expression on her face. "He said that we had to scare you and Alex off. Get you away from here, back to National City. He promised me that nobody was going to get hurt, but… I guess he didn't keep it."

Maggie huffed. _Understatement of the year._

"I've been mad at him, ever since. I was going to talk to him about it tonight. Maybe even ask for some space. I don't even know who he is anymore."

A bottle of champagne and celebrational sex…

That hardly seemed like breaking up with somebody.

"So…" Maggie searched for her next words. "… He told Alex where I was. And Bobby told me about how Evans messed with the case. So… In my eyes, that feels like he's being told what to do. Bobby's had it out for me ever since he heard that I came out of the closet."

Chloe nodded.

"Why did everyone respect the Grants if they were such loner assholes and bullies? I don't get it. You said that they hated Oscar as a sheriff."

"Willy Grant used to be a patrol officer. He was discharged from the local force here after he lost his temper with a perp when he was arresting him."

That was _new_ information. And in all that talk about the Grants, how come nobody had mentioned that?!

Chloe saw the look on Maggie's face, because she nodded. "Oscar discharged him. When he was on the force, Willy used to talk about how liberal Oscar was running the place, and when he fired him, that was the last straw for Willy."

"What did he do?"

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know. Willy had a _really_ long talk with Oscar, but Oscar never told us about it. But he always made sure to stay out of the Grants' way if something was wrong, so we assumed they'd parted like friends, or _whatever_ that meant."

"Chloe…" Maggie shot up. "You _do_ realize that you just broke the case, didn't you?"

The brunette frowned. "I… How?"

"You just _told_ me." The detective started pacing. "Willy gets fired, he and his son hold a grudge against police. There's a domestic dispute, Bobby shoots his brother's wife. Jeremy shows up on scene and Bobby shoots him for being a cop. Evans gets involved, but Bobby threatens him to change the narrative. Evans gets David locked up, and goes to Oscar to come clean and tell the truth about that night. The Grants hear about it, knowing that Oscar is a loose end, and kill him and his wife for finding out. They threaten Evans to keep his mouth shut, and when they hear about us taking over the investigation, they beat me up to get me to back off!"

It made _so_ much sense. And she could see Chloe getting to that realisation as well, her eyes gradually widening. "Oh my god… You're right."

"How can we prove it?" Maggie said, before raising a finger. "You need to get Evans to come clean. Get him to tell you _everything._ "

"How? He'll _know_ something is up." Chloe frowned.

"We'll figure something out." Maggie's mind started racing. "We also need evidence that'll put them at the crime scene. We need to request fingerprints off both Willy and Bobby's body, and match them with the ones found at the crime scene."

"They're both dead." Chloe whispered.

It wasn't exactly new information, but it _did_ mean that they weren't going to get a confession out of the killers.

Maggie nodded. "Call Evans, now. Tell him to come here. I'll hide and wait for him to say anything. I can only arrest him if he admits."

" _Arrest_?!" Chloe repeated slowly. "No, Maggie, you _promised_ me that you'd stay out of it!"

"Until we know what's going on, he's directly connected to a murder case, and he was lead investigator of it too, which means he could have tampered with _any_ evidence he wanted. So we're going to let Bosley go, let _him_ become sheriff as he should have been all along, and take Evans in."

Chloe shook her head. "I'm not cooperating if you don't keep your promise."

"Listen to me." Maggie stepped forward, looking her in the eyes. "If this theory checks out, that means that Evans was threatened and blackmailed into doing horrible things. The only thing this will do is prove his innocence. I _promise_ you that after we get the picture, I'll back off."

After a brief silence, Chloe nodded and reached for her phone.

Maggie watched her, unable to stop her hands from shaking.

If this really was the breakthrough on the case, then she needed to tell Alex. Maybe her wife would have to get the FBI involved.

She reached for her own phone, and walked out of the room and into the hallway, dialing her number.

"… _Maggie?_ "

"Hey, yeah. It's me."

" _Are you alright? Do you need backup?_ "

"No, I'm fine. We're talking. Actually, I think we solved the case. But you need to get here, so I can explain everything."

" _I'm already parked down the street._ "

Maggie closed her eyes briefly, and smirked. "… You didn't even leave, didn't you?"

" _I had to know you were okay._ "

Hearing those words made her heart skip a beat. But she had to focus. "Alex, come in here. There's not much time, Evans is on his way back and we need to get information out of him."

" _On my way_."

* * *

Five minutes later the trio was sat at the table, trying to think of a plan.

"We need to hear him say it." Alex said. "That's the only probable cause we have. But he'll never admit to it while we're in the room, so either it needs to be recorded, or we need to be somewhere where we can hear it."

"Or both." Maggie interjected."

"How am I possibly going to get anything out of him, if we haven't talked about it? He's just going to get defensive and angry if I pry."

"Of course. That's what we're aiming for." Maggie said.

Chloe looked at her in confusion, but the detective continued. "…The first words he ever said to me were a hint. He told me that there were _killers_. He's vulnerable, and he'll crack under pressure. We just need the right amount."

"So? What does that mean?"

Alex glanced at her wife, and then back to the woman. "You need to play into his fears. Get an angle on him. Maybe something about Jeremy, that reminds him of the pressure he's under."

Chloe nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. "Okay. I can do this."

"For Jeremy." Maggie said, reaching for the woman's hand and squeezing it gently, as Alex got up.

"I'm… _really_ sorry that this happened to you, Maggie." Chloe whispered, shaking her head. "I _never_ wanted this."

"I know." The detective smiled weakly. "I don't blame you, Chlo."

"His car just pulled up." Alex said, carefully glancing out the window. "Mags, we need to go."

"Good luck." Maggie patted her friend's shoulder, and reached for her gun. "Don't let him go into the kitchen."

The two of them disappeared into the door heading to the kitchen, and crouched down to the ground, guns drawn and ready for action.

If they heard _anything_ that was probable cause enough for Evans to be arrested, that was enough.

A key unlocked the front door for the second time that evening, and it felt like an odd déja-vu, sitting there and listening in.

The door to the living room was ajar to get a better sound, but that did mean that they had to be extremely quiet to make it work.

"… _had to see you. I don't want us to fight, but I want answers, Greg. I'm tired of sitting here not knowing what's going on._ _This is serious, this is people's lives you're messing with._ "

" _Babe._ " Evans' voice came in response. " _I told you, I need time to fix it._ "

" _Fix what exactly?! What the hell are you doing?! Greg, either you talk to me right now, or I'm gone._ "

It sounded slightly desperate, and it might seem a bit _too_ pushy, but Maggie hoped that Evans wouldn't see it.

" _I told you before. I'm not dragging you into this._ _No fucking way. You just keep close to that detective and that agent, and keep me updated_."

" _No. I'm done_."

The sound of a scraping chair, as Chloe probably got up. But after that, there were noises of a scuffle, and grunts that made it clear that some type of physical altercation was taking place.

Maggie shot up, ready to burst into the door with a drawn gun, but she felt Alex pull her back. She made eye-contact with her wife, who shook her her head and started motioning with her hands.

 _Stay back. Not yet._

Maggie closed her eyes and willed herself to focus on the sounds, before Chloe's voice echoed through the room again, sounding much more out of breath and agitated.

" _Tell me the truth! What did they do? Did they pay you to keep quiet?! Did they threaten you? Tell me what the hell is happening, or I swear I'm taking you in myself for murdering them!_ "

"Fuck." Maggie heard her wife curse silently behind her.

The one thing that Chloe _wasn't_ supposed to do – seize control.

" _Chloe, you fucking idiot._ " Was Evans' huffed reply. " _I can't keep you safe if you say shit like that_."

" _Keep me safe_." Chloe chuckled dryly. " _You couldn't even keep Jeremy safe_."

After that, the unmistakable sound of an open palm hitting flesh was enough for Maggie to finally lose her patience and storm into the room, gun raised.

Evans was standing upright next to Chloe, who was on her knees and nursing her cheek, eyes wide.

"Hands where I can see them, Evans."

The man laughed, raising his hands. "You're _fucking_ kidding me, right? A fucking _sting operation_?!"

"We're done circling around each other." Maggie said, her gun raised. She didn't feel Alex anywhere near her, so it was clear that Alex was trying to either sneak up on the man in case he lashed out, or she wanted to maintain the element of surprise. But that didn't stop her. "Either you tell meeverything you know _right now_ , or I'm pinning all of this on you anyway, and you'll never see daylight again."

"I tried to warn you." Evans huffed. "You wouldn't listen."

"Is it Bobby?" Maggie pressed. "Did he tell you to screw David over, did he kill Oscar? Just _tell_ me that he did, and you can walk, and we can forget _all_ of this happened."

" _Gregory_ …" Came Chloe's shaky voice, thick with emotion. "… _Please_."

Evans looked down at her, before he locked eyes with Maggie again. "I really wish you'd have backed off, Sawyer. Now it's too late."

"There's nobody here but us. You can tell me. All I want is justice for Oscar. He was your _friend_."

Evans took a shaky breath, his eyes glazing over with unshed tears. "I… I would _never_ hurt him. I tried to stop them."

"How? What happened?" Maggie asked, feeling her stomach churn.

The man growled. "He'll _kill_ me. And Chloe, and _you_ , and _anybody_ that figures it out – just like he killed Oscar."

"Bobby?" Maggie said, lowering the gun slightly.

But that wouldn't make sense.

Bobby was dead. Evans knew that.

"No…" Evans shook his head. "Not Bobby."

"… _Me_."

Maggie turned around, seeing a figure emerging from the kitchen, and dragging a seemingly unconscious Alex along with him before carelessly dropping her at Maggie's feet.

Long, brown hair tied up neatly in a ponytail, steely-eyed, and holding a gun that he was now pointing at Maggie with a smug smile.

"It's about time you and I had a proper talk, Detective."

 _Thomas Collins._


	18. Chapter 18

Collins turned the gun on Alex, the barrel almost touching the agents' skull. "Put your gun away, or I'll have to blow a hole in her head, Detective."

The click of the safety made it clear that he wasn't bluffing.

 _Shit._

Maggie glanced down at Alex's body immediately, trying to find a sign of life without dropping down to her knees. Instinctively, she slowly moved her gun back into her holster and raised her hands in surrender towards Collins, all the while scanning her wife's body from head to toes.

Finally, her chest still seemed to be moving, and there was the slightest twitch in her index finger. Maggie felt her own heart pounding, but upon realizing that Alex was at least still alive, she fully turned her attention to the man currently pointing the barrel of a gun at her face.

"You should have stayed in National City." He finally broke the silence.

Maggie heard a noise to her right, and saw from the corners of her eyes that Evans was now standing protectively in front of Chloe, shielding her with his own body.

Collins didn't seem to mind, though, as his gaze was fixed on her.

"So people keep telling me." She responded slowly. Though her heart was beating like mad, she had to stay calm.

This was pure hostage negotiation. Get everyone in the room out safely without casualties.

She'd done this before, she could do it now. And the time did seem to slow down, as she started analyzing his stance, voice and use of words.

Collins smirked, the gun not wavering. "I never meant to harm you, _or her_. And if Watson had just left you alone, like she was supposed to, then none of this would have happened."

 _Projection_. That meant that he had seen this situation coming, and was prepared for it. And _that_ meant that he wasn't hysterical, or about to make an impulsive choice.

He'd planned this. Meticulously, by the looks of it.

"Thomas, she's their _family_." Chloe said with a shaky voice, from behind Evans' frame. "She _deserved_ to-…"

" _He_ didn't deserve to have _anybody_ mourning him!" Collins shot back, raising his voice. Another red flag in Maggie's mind – the anger had come out of nowhere, seemingly triggered.

She'd found a way into his mind. Now she had to weigh her next words.

"I _hated_ that she made me come back." Maggie said. "I never wanted to come back here. I was _terrified_ of who he had made me, back here. He could have said _anything_ about me, he could have set the entire town up against me… But all anyone can talk about here was how proud he was of me."

Collins scoffed. "Yeah, well, if you'd been a homeless junkie he'd have never mentioned you at all. He was just proud because you did something commendable, so _he_ could boast about you, while all he did was _hurt_ you."

Maggie was starting to get confused at his choice of words. Was he _defending_ her?

She acted quickly, changing tactics.

"Why did you think he deserved to die? What did he do to you? I told you, I _know_ he's a bad person, but I just want to understand."

"They didn't deserve it!" A huff from Maggie's right. Unmistakably Evans' voice.

Maggie cringed inwardly at the words.

Those words could make a suspect go red immediately.

But instead of the response Maggie expected – the man losing his temper and shooting _her_ , or preferably _him_ , Collins just smiled.

"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Greg?"

Maggie turned her head to see Evans' clenched jaw. The man was clearly trying to control his temper.

"Oh, didn't you know? How Gregory was _screaming_ at Oscar when I arrived? That Katherine had called me, because she thought he was going to _kill_ both of them?!"

"You _liar_ …" Evans hissed through his teeth, as he lunged forward. But Collins turned the gun on him instantly, making him stop dead in his tracks.

Maggie, meanwhile, had used the brief absence of a gun pointed at her face to reach for her own gun once again, aiming it at Collins.

It was clear that Evans had never been trained for these types of negotiations, but that didn't mean that she was going to give up the little control she had left.

She had to get Chloe and Alex out of there.

"Ah, ah, Greg." Collins shook his head. "We both know that you're the liar between the two of us. Rigging investigations, setting up kidnapping schemes, getting a perfectly good chief deputy thrown in jail…" He glanced back to Maggie. " _I_ was trying to keep Evans from bashing your mother's skull inside out, but he wouldn't listen to me."

" _Sawyer_."

Maggie was immediately drawn to the sincere whimper that formed her name in Evans' throat.

"I didn't _do_ this. He's lying to you. It's the other way around – I was at Oscar's house to talk about Chloe's plan and Collins was at the door, and he grabbed a fireplace poker and…"

He was interrupted by the sound of Collins' gun, firing off a round into the air next to him.

Evans ducked instinctively, and Chloe's scared scream echoed through Maggie's mind, along with the slight ringing that came with firing a round so close to her ears.

The loud noise _did_ have a positive effect, though, when Maggie saw that Alex had begun to stir.

"Oh, come on, Greg." Collins huffed. "How can you _possibly_ try to take the high road on this? I mean, you're banging Chloe – which _everybody_ knows, by the way – and the only reason you have her is because you ordered a _hit_ on her husband. Because you were _jealous_ , and because you wanted her all to yourself."

A short silence fell. The confusion on Chloe's face was undeniable.

"G- _Greg_ …?" She said in a quiet voice.

Evans turned around, and shot her an incredulous look. "Babe, of _course_ not… I would _never_ do that to Jeremy!"

"Then why did you change the file?!" She shot back. Maggie saw clearly that neither of them were carrying, but that didn't mean the situation couldn't go downhill in a second without firearms.

And Collins still had his gun loosely in his hand, stuck between aiming at Maggie and Evans.

Truth be told – her gut feeling wasn't completely sure as to who actually did the killing, but both of them were eager to show that the other was innocent.

Which only proved to her that whoever had done it, wasn't particularly proud about it, or didn't see himself as some type of Angel of Death.

On the contrary – if both of them wanted to blame the other, then it could have been a complete accident too.

Though she wasn't exactly willing to bet on that last part.

"Bobby threatened me." Evans said. "He told me to let his brother go down for it."

" _Bullshit_." Collins laughed. "If that were true, then how would he have possibly convinced Bobby to do his bidding and beat the crap out of Sawyer?!"

Evans' eyes flitted to Maggie. The man looked absolutely anxious, but the look on his face didn't seem like a perp lying to save his skin.

It looked like a man who was going to get wrongfully convicted – or _killed_.

But when he turned back to Chloe, the woman was staring at her with teary eyes.

"Babe, I… He told me to throw David in jail for beating his wife, or else he'd come after you too. He knew you were a cop, I couldn't take that risk. _Yes_ … I was in love with you when Jeremy was still around, but I wasn't _jealous_. He was my best friend, I… I just didn't want to see you get hurt."

"… _Please…_ Tell me you're lying." Chloe whispered through the tears now finally slipping down her cheeks. "You sent an innocent man to jail and let the guy who shot Jeremy in cold blood _walk_?!"

"I _had_ to."

This whole situation was starting to make Maggie's head hurt. But while Evans and Chloe talked further, being monitored closely by Collins, Maggie's attention was pulled towards Alex's glossy eyes.

It was clear that Collins had either pistol-whipped her, or drugged her, based on the confusion on her face. But Maggie just looked at her, and prayed feverishly that their telepathic connection was strong enough to have Alex stay down.

When the time came, Alex might have to become a surprise attacker, if the situation called for it.

She couldn't take that away by announcing that she was awake.

Her wife seemed to understand though, and after the tiniest nod, she went limp again, feigning unconsciousness.

 _Good_.

A plan was starting to form in her head for when things went sour, but Maggie hoped that they wouldn't be needing it.

For now, she had to get the gun away from Collins.

The man was still transfixed on the couple's bickering, but Maggie used it to her advantage.

"Thomas, I know how you feel, alright? I know that being an outcast isn't fun. You _know_ me, you know how much I had to fight to get to where I am, no thanks to Oscar _or_ Katherine. So… _please_ just help me understand what happened, so I can get back to National City with the closure I need."

Collins' face changed for a second, and Maggie assumed that she'd hit the right buttons to get him to calm down. But she had to hammer it home.

"I'm not looking to place blame somewhere. I have… such a _hatred_ for that man, for what he did to me. And if I'm being honest, if they'd have been around, there is a possibility that _I_ would have snapped at some point, and done things that I'd have regret. I'm not ashamed to admit it, because I know that he had it coming."

Chloe and Evans had gone silent too, staring back at the gun still aimed on Evans' face.

"You believe in karma, don't you?" Collins said, looking at Maggie. "That people truly get back what they give to the universe?"

"I do." Maggie said. "And karma's a bitch, but that's what happens when you make mistakes like he did."

Collins nodded quietly and glanced down, seemingly thinking things over.

For a second, Maggie thought she'd won.

But then he lifted his head back up, and tilted it at her.

"… It's a good thing I didn't make any mistakes then."

Of course, his statement could be interpreted both ways. But that didn't matter to Maggie, because she finally realized that it really _had_ been him all along.

And now that he'd talked himself into being good, she knew that there was no turning back.

She slowly lifted her leg to reposition it, carefully tapping Alex's elbow with her foot.

 _Come on, Alex._

"The hair found in the bedroom. The hair found in Oscar's skull. Long and brown." Maggie shook her head. "You let Evans watch as you beat your boss to death. And Oscar hadn't done _anything_ to you. And then you manipulated the evidence to throw us off your track."

Collins clenched his jaw. "You _really_ want to believe that I'm the guilty one?"

"You know, you never _really_ know what's inside a person's mind, until they do everything to convince you that they're a good person." She swallowed thickly. "You're a _really_ good liar, Collins. You should have been a detective."

"Oh, Maggie." He smiled up at her. "We could use more cops like you."

Maggie's heart stopped when he realized that this really _was_ the point of no return.

She was ready to send a round right between his eyes.

But Collins pulled the trigger first.

Time seemed to slow down once more.

Maggie stared numbly at the barrel pointed at her own chest, and realized that this was the end.

She hit the floor roughly, completely unaware of time or space. But the collision was nothing like the other times she'd been shot out in the field.

Someone had pushed her.

She managed to lift her head the second she became aware of her surroundings once more, and realized what had happened.

Chloe had repositioned herself, apparently having sensed that Collins was ready to throw everything away for his shot at vengeance.

So when the bullet meant for her struck flesh, it wasn't _hers_ that it ripped through.

The second after her realization, everything happened at once.

Alex jumped upright quickly, kicking Collins' gun away from him and straddling his waist to pin him down. The detective could only stare at how rage seemed to have overtaken Alex completely, as she punched the man _again_ and _again_ , yelling and screaming.

"You _fucking_ asshole! I'm going to fucking _kill_ you!"

Maggie watched Alex, as Collins kicked her in the stomach to fight her off. But she knew that it was a lost cause – _nothing_ stood in the way of a bloodthirsty Alex Danvers when she was on a mission.

So she crawled towards the tangle of limbs and sobs that was now Chloe and Evans, and kneeled down.

Evans was holding Chloe's head with one arm, and keeping pressure on the wound in her stomach with the other, all the while whispering comforts through tears.

"Let me." Maggie just said, pulling his hands away from the wound and pressing her own against it, ignoring the sorrow that shot through her chest at the sound of Chloe's cry of pain.

She looked back up to see the man cradling his lover's face in his arms and sobbing. "Just _hold on_. You're going to be okay, just… _please_ , Chloe…"

" _Gregory_." Maggie closed her eyes to try and keep the tears at bay. "Call a bus, get help."

The man didn't look like he'd heard a word of what she said, too busy comforting a drastically paling Chloe, who was now shaking and weakly whispering her reply.

"Gregory!" She snapped again. "Call for an ambulance!"

His head snapped up and his eyes met hers for a brief second, before he nodded and got up from his knees, reaching for his cellphone.

" _M-Maggie_ …" Chloe grunted, her eyes brimming with tears.

The detective smiled. "Hey… Your first bullet?"

The woman nodded weakly.

Maggie's voice was as unsteady as hers. "Don't worry – we're going to get you help, you're going to be _fine,_ okay? But you just need to stay with me here, you _idiot._ You don't _ever_ get to do that again…"

"P- _please_ …" Chloe whispered. "D- _don't let me die…_ "

Maggie finally had to choke back her tears, masking them with a weak smile while shaking her head. "Never, Chlo. Do you remember that uh… That sparring session at the academy? You know, the one where Jeremy tried to one-up me to impress you? And I had such a big mouth, but he ended up totally _nailing_ me to the mat? Huh?"

Chloe was full-on crying now, her small frame shaking with the effort it took.

Maggie willed herself not to look down at the blood seeping through her fingers.

"Jeremy… I g-get to see _J-Jeremy_ again, Mags."

" _No_." Maggie shook her head. "No, he's just going to have to _wait_ for you up there, because you're _not_ done. You're going to grow old with Gregory, and you're going to laugh, and cry, and get black-out drunk and maybe have a couple of kids, but you're _not_ going to die here."

Chloe only smiled at that. "S- _sap_."

Gregory raced back into the room. "They're five minutes out."

Maggie felt a hand at her back, and knew that it was Alex, but she didn't respond to it. Instead, her wife knelt down beside her and took over the pressure, and Maggie began to see the professional stoicism appear.

This was _agent_ Alex. _Doctor_ Alex.

The one that could save Chloe.

Evans settled back near Chloe's head, holding her and kissing her temple, in a gesture that she recognized from her and Alex out in the field.

They'd gotten their fair share of scary and dangerous situations, where either of them was down or injured, and where they were sure that their moments would be the last ones together.

But she wasn't willing to accept that this really had been Chloe's last day.

She glanced back to see Collins lying incapacitated near the coffee table and moaning pathetically.

Evans still crying, pleading with Chloe to hang on, to stay with him, to stay _alive._

Maggie dropped down to her knees once more, dread settling in her stomach as the seconds ticked by.


	19. Chapter 19

An hour later, Maggie found herself sitting on an uncomfortable metal chair in an interrogation room, one-way glass separating her from the rest of the world.

Facing a deadly calm Thomas Collins, whose face was largely held together by butterfly stitches and bruised skin.

She had Alex to thank for it, though she figured that she didn't look too good herself. It almost felt ironic, like she was looking in a mirror.

Chloe had been rushed to the hospital, and Maggie had forbidden Alex to go anywhere without being cleared by doctors first, so Alex had taken it upon herself to stay in the hospital for updates.

Every now and then, Maggie felt her phone buzzing in her pocket, so at least there was news. But she couldn't focus on that now. She had a job to do, and a case to close.

"I told you before. I _want_ to understand what you did." She finally spoke after a brief silence. "You're going down for a long time, Collins. Double homicide, assault on a federal agent, attempted murder of a cop… Not to mention the things you were complicit in. I'm offering you a way out – if you tell me what he did to you, what made all of this happen, then I can help you."

The man raised an eyebrow, as far as the stitches allowed him, and leaned forward gingerly. "There is nothing left to talk about, Maggie."

"So that's it? You're just going to bow your head and rot away in a jail cell?" Maggie chuckled weakly, shaking her head. "You're smart, Collins. You know that this isn't the way to go."

"You'd never believe me if I told you the truth." He leaned back again, his shoulders sagging. "I'm not even going to waste my breath on it. Just take me down the line, pin everything on me and forget about Blue Springs."

"It's not that easy-…" Maggie began, but he cut her off quickly.

"It _is_."

"Well, even _if_ I don't believe you, I'd be more than happy to waste some paper on getting your testimony in the public record. You know – in case you ever change your mind and want a judge to hand you a 'get out of jail free' card." Maggie tilted her head. " _Tell me_ , Thomas."

The man took a deep breath, cracking the knuckles in his fingers. "You're persistent, I'll give you that."

"Kind of necessary in my line of work."

The man laughed. "Oscar was right about you. I was sceptical when I heard his stories, thinking that he was just exaggerating as usual… But it seems that his words didn't do you justice."

Maggie didn't respond, instead waiting for the man to start talking, a pen clutched between her thumb and index finger, ready to take notes.

"The Lockman murder was staged."

Maggie's eyes shot up to meet his upon hearing that first sentence. She found herself unable to write it down, her gaze locked on his sorrowful expression.

"… Chloe had an affair with David Grant when she was still married to Jeremy. She was at the Grant farm that night, telling David about how Jeremy had figured the affair out. That she was scared that Jeremy was going to snap, and hurt her. I have to give it to her – she played the part _really_ well."

Maggie felt sick.

"She convinced David that Jeremy would hurt her, and then faked a 911 call. She knew that Jeremy was on duty, he responded alone, and David was waiting behind the door with a shotgun. Shot him point blank. David's wife came home too soon, became an accidental witness, so they had to shoot her too. Chloe's been playing the victim card ever since."

"But…" Maggie opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to make sense of it. "But _Evans_ changed the file…?"

"Evans did what he thought he had to do. He realized what had happened immediately, and kept Chloe out of jail by pinning everything on David. With him _and_ Jeremy out of the way, he had no more competition."

A big part of Maggie refused to believe that Chloe really was the black widow that Collins was making her. Having her husband killed off, then getting her lover out of the way and taking Evans…

Collins must have seen the confusion on her face, because he nodded his understanding. "Like I said, Maggie. I don't expect you to follow. It's a truth you can't handle, and I accept that. Just write it down so we can move this along – I'm sure you're worried about her."

She filed her response away for now, writing a few key words down before looking up again. "What about the night of the murder? That _was_ you, wasn't it? You killed them?"

"I killed Oscar, yes. And I went upstairs to Katherine, but I didn't kill her."

"And who was the other person there?"

"That was Evans." Collins replied. "He was there already when I arrived. I didn't expect him to be, but he made my job easier."

"Your _job_." Maggie repeated.

Collins smirked. "You know that I… _edited_ the crime scene. I tried to send you messages. I put that Lucky toy in the truck, I told Chloe that you should drive around in it while you were here."

"Why?!" Maggie shot back. "All that did was make me more _mad_."

"No, it _reminded_ you of why you were there, and what your job was. To get _justice_."

Maggie flopped back down into her seat. Collins was contradicting himself – admitting to the murders but demanding justice either way…?

" _Oscar_ figured out what happened the night that Jeremy Lockman died. Saturday night, Evans went to Oscar's house to finally tell him the truth. Oscar didn't take it very well, and fired Evans right there and then. Evans blamed Chloe, basically throwing her under the bus, but Oscar was having none of it. When I arrived, Evans was just about to go head-to-head with him. I defused the situation."

"By murdering him."

"Evans knew my experience in forensics. The night of Jeremy's murder, he blackmailed me into cleaning up the crime scene, to alter the evidence to make sure that Chloe was in no way connected. I knew that Evans was blaming everybody but himself, and I knew that he told Oscar what had happened, because Oscar started screaming _horrible_ things at me the second he saw me. So Oscar had to go."

Maggie felt her stomach churn at the thought of this man, murdering her father in cold blood to save his own skin.

"Evans froze. He just watched. When I was done, I told him to go find trashbags, to clean up the mess and get him out of there. But then…" He sighed. "Then Katherine was standing in the doorway, screaming. She'd heard the commotion. Evans _completely_ lost it. He dragged her up the stairs, threw her into the room and beat her. I tried to stop him, but she'd already seen too much."

 _Collateral damage._

"Evans had dropped both me and Chloe like bricks to save himself from Oscar's scorn. So I told him that the only way he could get out of it was to listen to me, and obey my commands."

"You had him do your legwork." Maggie scoffed. "Blaming other suspects, scaring me and Alex off…"

"But he tried to help you." Collins shook his head. "The whole kidnapping thing was supposed to be enough, but Evans told your wife where you were. A big mistake, and it cost him. If he'd listened to me, and stuck to the plan, then none of this would have happened."

"I'd be dead."

"No, you'd be back in National City, where you belong. Chasing aliens and bad guys, and smooching with the DEO's finest agent."

Maggie froze. _How did he…_

"Oh, _please_ , Detective. Like I wouldn't do my research on how to get to you. I meant what I said before – I never meant to seriously hurt you. Just to scare you off and have you leave us alone."

"Tell that to Chloe." Maggie huffed. "She's fighting for her life."

"And if she'd kept it in her pants, your parents would still be alive, so _forgive me_ for not exactly cheering her recovery on." The man hissed. "That woman made a _murderer_ out of me. _All of this_ is her fault. She _played_ you."

"So Bobby and his father were just a scapegoat?" Maggie pushed away the notepad. This wasn't an interrogation anymore.

"Willy hated Oscar, Bobby hated you. It was the _perfect match_. I gave them instructions to take you, and pummel you around for a bit, blaming it on your sexuality. It would strengthen the 'small-town-hates-gays' stereotype, and it would hopefully scare Alex enough to question whether all of this was worth it."

He really _had_ planned everything perfectly – the only flaws in his plan were the parts where other people had screwed things up for him.

Everything made sense now.

"… There, now you know. Oscar _had_ to die because Evans couldn't keep his mouth shut, and I had to murder him because Evans blackmailed me at the Lockman crime scene to clean up his messes. Now, believe of all of this what you must. For all I know, Evans told you the exact opposite thing. But this is the truth, and… Fuck it, you're right. If I'm going down, might as well go down doing the right thing."

Maggie glanced back at the mirror beside them, knowing that at least _somebody_ was watching them.

 _She had to talk to Chloe. And Evans._

"Thank you. For telling the truth." Maggie said, sincerely. "But what made you change your mind? Just an hour ago, you'd have killed every person in that room if it meant keeping your secret."

"You putting a bullet through my head was justice. I wish you'd done it anyway." Collins licked his lips, looking down to avoid her gaze. "I was aiming for your legs, but she jumped in front of you."

Maggie realized that she was never going to know for certain whether the man was lying to her or not. Whether he _had_ meant to kill her and was talking his way out of it, or he'd honestly never meant for it to escalate and come to this.

"I deserve this." Collins said. "I get that now. _I_ made the mistake of getting myself roped into a situation that I could never get out of alive and free. And I can only hope that the same goes for Evans and Watson."

"I'm going to release Bosley, and return him to his post as sheriff." Maggie said. "Did you mean what you said about him? At the Rodas house?"

"He was a good friend to Oscar, but he'd been pining after his badge for years… Well…" Collins shrugged. "We're better off with Adam Bosley than we'd ever be with Gregory Evans."

A thought struck Maggie. "When you voted for sheriff…"

"Evans was the only one that voted for me, because he figured he could keep the heat off himself. I voted blank. The rest of the force seemed to like his odds. I was surprised – I didn't know _that_ many people saw a sheriff in him. Lord knows _he_ didn't." Collins chuckled.

The corners of Maggie's mouth curled up in amusement, though she knew that the situation was far from funny.

"Are you going to be okay?"

The question surprised her. Because the look in the man's face was nothing but concern and worry.

She didn't know what to respond. "I…"

"I'm sorry you had to go through this. If you hadn't been here, then things would have never been cleared up like this. So… Thank you. For allowing me to speak my piece. For listening to me. Nobody here would have, and the truth would have never come out." He nodded slowly. "It feels… liberating."

"You're welcome, Thomas."

She _meant_ it, too.

A last grateful nod, and then Maggie got up and walked out the door.

She checked her phone, seeing a few texts from Alex.

 _Clean bill of health, cleared by doctors. Waiting for updates on Chloe._

 _She's still in surgery, will be another few hours, probably. They sounded optimistic._

 _You doing okay? Call me as soon as you can._

 _Just spoke to Evans. He's a mess._

 _Call me._

Maggie dialed her number, and raised her phone to her ear. After she heard the click, she started talking immediately. "Hey. I just got out of the interrogation."

" _And?_ "

"… And I know enough to wrap up the case and go home."

" _Wait, what about the funerals_?"

"Bosley can arrange those. He was better to them than I could have ever been, I'd just get everything wrong anyway. And I don't owe them anything, just like they don't owe me anything."

" _What made you change your mind?_ "

 _Finding out that everything she'd heard about them had been a lie to manipulate her._

"Just… It's been a long day. I'm done with Blue Springs. I'm just going to talk to Bosley, and pick you up from the hospital."

" _But… Don't you want to wait for Chloe? See how she's doing?_ _And what about Evans?_ "

"We've handed the investigation over to the Gage County PD, a few officers should be on their way towards the hospital soon."

She knew that she was being cryptic, but she honestly didn't feel like repeating the entire story. Not now, at least. And definitely not over the phone.

"Hey… I'll be there in half an hour, alright? I just have to do something first."

"… _Okay. Whatever you need, babe. I'll be here._ "

Maggie smiled. "I love you."

She waited for Alex's reply, before hanging up the phone, and walking towards the door to the sheriff's office, and rapping her knuckles against it.

* * *

A week later, Maggie and Alex were strolling through the park, arms linked.

The bruises on Maggie's face were healing, and the swelling was almost gone, making her presentable enough to get back to work. Though she hadn't been eager to jump back on any cases the second she'd returned, and Alex had ordered her to get a few days of rest first, she _was_ ready to get back to her routine, because that was the fastest way to leave all of the events of Nebraska behind her.

Alex hadn't asked any questions when she arrived at the hospital, flanked by three officers who arrested Evans immediately, and took the agent's place in waiting for updates on Chloe. Maggie had shot her a look that begged no questions, and she'd given her the space she needed.

In the car on their way to the airport, Maggie had finally told her everything that Collins had told her. Alex had listened patiently, connecting dots even before her wife had explained most of the story. But when Maggie was finished, the only question on her mind had been clear.

" _Why are you so sure that he's telling the truth?_ "

Maggie had thought about it. For a long time. And honestly, she didn't have the slightest idea. The entire case had been a rollercoaster of suspects, motives and lies. But she'd been certain the moment the words left his mouth.

She blamed it on instinct, on gut feeling. Because she couldn't explain it. But something inside her desperately wanted her to believe that her father had been watching over her, helping her, and telling her that she was doing the right thing.

It was stupid – but it eased her mind.

"Hey… Where did you go?"

Maggie snapped out of her thoughts to see Alex's worried frown in her direction.

She cleared her throat quickly, and flashed her a smile. "Nowhere. I just… got lost in thoughts, that's all."

Alex nodded, glancing up at the sky. "We should head back, it looks like it's going to start raining, and we should go get ready for game night."

Maggie nodded, and laughed as Alex untangled their arms and brought her fingers to her mouth, whistling sharply. " _Hunter_! Let's go, buddy!"

A large golden retriever barked loudly, and turned his head from being pet by one of the kids on the nearby playground. Alex raised her hand, and the dog barked again, running towards them.

"Come on, babe." Alex smiled. "Let's go home."

Maggie didn't hesitate.

* * *

 **The End.**


End file.
